I am intrigued by the correspondence on this matter. And seek some
clarification from you.
I have looked at your published patent application. As it was only
published in January 2001 it is clearly many years from becoming a
granted patent in any country and of course may never get to grant in
many countries that have rigorous examination procedures. Your
correspondence with Ujihara Kazuya requesting 14 day responses looks a
tad premature to me. What's the hurry?
A key aspect of the alleged invention is clearly the algorithm used to
multiply the URLS for making the request. Could you provide a copy of
the algorithm as there are no specific details provided in your
application? How does your algorithm determine which URLS to generate
without first checking what they actually are on the host server?
I presume that commercial patent downloading services do not fall within
the scope of what you consider to be your invention? You know services
such as Micropatents patent download service.
If I downloaded Lattice 1.14b3 or 1.14b7 or 1.14b8 or 1.15b1 or 1.15 or
1.16b1 or 1.16b2 and continue to use one of these in the UK are you
going to sue me for infringement of your method patent if and when it
grants in the UK?
Any clarification you can provide in your own time will be appreciated.
Regards,
Nick White
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce A. Pokras [mailto:bpokras@orangebookpatents.com]
Sent: 06 February 2002 02:53
To: PIUG List
Subject: Fwd: How long has patent downloading software been available ?
If you search through Mr. Mayall's own web site, you will find that a
version of Lattice was available prior to his priority date (look at
http://www.imageapps.fsnet.co.uk/whatsnew.html and you will see
several mentions of Lattice prior to June 26, 1999). There is also
the fact that any kind of patent downloading software is merely a
specialized form of the offline browsing software that became
available in the mid-1990's (remember Web Wacker?). So the automated
downloading of files from the web (it does not matter whether they
are web pages or patent images, etc.) for viewing or printing later
is old hat.
Bruce Pokras
>Status: U
>From: "UJIHARA Kazuya" <ujihara@aurora.dti.ne.jp>
>To: <piug-l@derwent.co.uk>
>Subject: How long has patent downloading software been available ?
>Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 00:56:59 +0900
>X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
>Importance: Normal
>Sender: owner-piug-l@derwent.co.uk
>
>Dear PIUG list,
>
>I am UJIHARA Kazuya, the author of GetIPDL, patent downloading
software.
><http://www.aurora.dti.ne.jp/~ujihara/GetIPDL/>
>I got some e-mails from Mr. Mayall, the author of PatSee.
>He says that GetIPDL is infringing his intellectual property described
>in WO01/01234.
>But, I consider that GetIPDL does not use the arts claimed in
>WO01/01234.
>Furthermore, I believe that his invention is not satisfy a patent
>requirement because the invention is not progressive,
>and patent downloading software is available on the earliest priority
>date of WO01/01234.
>I know one patent downloading software, whose name is PatCite.
>It was written by Mr. Dudley J. Mills and his product is released on
>1997 as the version 3.0.
>In order to make my opinion more reliable, please let me know the
>following questions.
> How long has patent downloading software been available ?
> When were they available ?
> Who produced them ?
>
>Thank you in advance.
>
>Regards,
>
>UJIHARA Kazuya <mailto:ujihara@aurora.dti.ne.jp>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Support [mailto:support@imageapps.co.uk]
>Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 7:51 PM
>To: ujihara@aurora.dti.ne.jp
>Subject: GetIPDL
>
>
>Dear Sirs,
>
>Please address all future correspondence regarding the above program
and
>International patent publication number WO 01/01234 to:
>
>support@imageapps.co.uk.
>
>Legal Department
>Image Applications Limited
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: lattice@yall.screaming.net [mailto:lattice@yall.screaming.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2001 4:05 AM
>To: UJIHARA Kazuya
>Subject: Re: Patent Problem
>
>
>Dear Sirs,
>
>Thank you for your comments.
>
>We would be grateful if you could advise what feature in the claims of
>WO01/01234 is absent from GetIPDL. Presumably you will have no problem
>providing this information if your product genuinely falls outside of
>the
>claims.
>
>In our understanding GetIPDL clearly falls within the claims but we
>would be
>pleased if you could explain the basis of your opinion.
>
>As you are connected to the intellectual property field you will no
>doubt
>understand the seriousness of this matter.
>
>Thank you for continued attention.
>
>Legal Department
>Image Applications Limited
>=================================
>
>
>UJIHARA Kazuya writes:
>
>> Dear Sirs,
>>
>> I believe that your invention was made to a person having ordinary
>> skill in internet programming. And, GetIPDL does not use the arts
>> claimed in WO 01/01234. If you continue it, I will consult with some
>> IP newsgroups, mailing lists, and so forth.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Ujihara Kazuya
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Image Applications Limited [mailto:lattice@yall.screaming.net]
>> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 7:58 PM
>> To: ujihara@aurora.dti.ne.jp
>> Subject: Patent Problem
>>
>>
>> Dear Sirs,
>>
>> Thank you for your prompt reply to our e-mail regarding your
product,
>> GetIPDL, and International Patent Application WO 01/01234.
>>
>> We have read the items from the archive. These items are not
>> persuasive and, in our opinion, would not be accepted by the Patent
> > Office or Court as evidence of invalidity. For example one item
> > alleges invalidity over unspecified documents of no proven date.
>>
>> As for the alleged prior use of PatCite and DIP-J software to which
>> you refer, again this allegation is unsubstantiated. We are not
aware
>
>> of either product having been made available to the public before
the
>> priority date. The evidentiary requirements have not been met, nor
do
>
>> we believe they can be met as we have no knowledge of these products
>> being made available to the public in any form affecting validity of
>> our patent rights.
>>
>> Your manufacture of GetIPDL damages the legitimate business
interests
>of
>> Image Applications Limited.
>>
>> Your comments within 13 days would be appreciated.
>>
>>
>> Legal Department
>> Image Applications Limited
>> =================================
>>
>>
>> Dear Sirs,
>>
>> Please read
>> http://www.derwent.com/archive/piug/0989.html
>> http://www.derwent.com/archive/piug/0991.html
>> . They are similar to my opinion.
>> Additionally,
>> Your invention is publicly known and worked in PatCite and DIP-J
>> softwares on priority date of WO 01/01234. What's new in your
>> invention ?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Image Applications Limited [mailto:lattice@yall.screaming.net]
>> Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2001 6:48 PM
>> To: ujihara@aurora.dti.ne.jp
>> Subject: Patent Problem
>> Importance: High
>>
>>
>> Dear Sirs,
>>
>> We wish to draw your attention to International Patent Application
WO
>> 01/01234. This realtes to software for downloading patents from free
>> servers. We have noticed your software GetIPDL and we are naturally
>> concerned about your activities.
>>
>> Your comments within 14 days would be appreciated.
>>
>>
>> Legal Department
>> Image Applications Limited
>>
>
>
>
>**********************************************************************
>This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
>intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
>are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
>the system manager.
>
>This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
>MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
>
>www.mimesweeper.com
>**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Feb 14 2003 - 11:56:39 GMT