If you haven't seen the news yet, I found out thanks to http://slashdot.org , Microsoft is pulling one of their dirtiest stunts ever in their attempt to destroy Netscape. If anyone doesn't think Microsoft is evil this should convince them, unless they are niave enough to think Microsoft isn't behind this! In what would appear to be a result of their assimilation of Wang last month, Wang has announced a Lawsuit against Netscape for Patent infringement. Basically Wang is claiming to have "Save As..." patented?!?!?! For an explanation see http://www.mozilla.org/legal/wangsuit.html I also like the Graphic and comment at http://www.mozilla.org The problem is, Wang is sueing them for something that almost EVERY piece of software available does! Netscape needs examples of software that do the things in the patent prior to March 30th, 1983. See the below information. Wang might be able to use this to get a Court injunction to prevent Netscape from distributing Navigator?!?! A lot of the Free Software fanatics are seeing this as a direct attack against free software by Microsoft, since Netscape just released the Navigator source code. Zane Here is the portion of the statement that is the most important: ----------- Wang is asserting that a patent that it holds for a video text system is infringed by the Netscape browser. Netscape is vigorously defending the lawsuit. Wang contends the patent discloses the invention of: Saving web pages retrieved from a server using "Save As" (See Claim 23, 24), Bookmarks (Claims 20-22), Saving files with file extensions and then retrieving the pages and decoding the files based on the file extension (Claim 38). The patent was filed in 1984. We believe the patent is noninfringed, unenforceable, and invalid based on, among other things, prior art such as the Alto & Star computers from Xerox Parc, Terminal Emulators, connectivity software prevelant in the the early 80s such as CrossTalk, Unix symbolic links (ln -s), and various other "video text" systems like Telidon, Prestel, Mupid used in the late 70s, early 80s. It's easy to say "of course that's invalid", but what is required are specific references to prior art. If you know of additional prior art publications, software programs, books, or systems in existence --prior to March 30, 1983-- which disclose and/or describe the claimed elements send us a message. Send responses or questions to mozilla.org. Please include the following information: Name of the Publication or System Date of the Publication or Date System Was Publicly Known Features it Discloses Where Can the Publication or System Be Found (ie. university, reference library, company, contact person) ---------- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ | | For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. | | see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |