Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't hold up in any serious suit, but it could be a good patent trolling weapon. Let's hope that when IBM inevitably goes the way of the cuckoo, this does not fall in the wrong hand and/or patent reform has happened by them (fat chance imho).
If that patent was filed in 98, it expired in 2018.
Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
61–70 of 93 posts
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been the bread and butter of PHP for two decades And many other things too, but someone had to be first. I doubt it was IBM but there would have been some elapsed time between TBL inventing HTML and the first time someone dynamically generated it from an RDBMS. That’s the person who could claim prior art.
I did exactly this in 1996 when we implemented a case management system with a web-based frontend. It used a home-grown webserver written in Perl that was talking SQL to a Sybase instance. And it was definitely not something unique. This project started because I was asking (probably on Usenet) for advice on what GUI framework we should use, and was recommended to build the application using web technologies. The fac…
I remember Sybperl, since everyone was using Perl for CGI in the 90’s anyway it was a no-brainer to use it for that. Sybperl was released in 1990!
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#63IBM pays their company employees to file patents. It is also one of the key factor for promotions. That's why you can see lot's of stupid patents out there in IBM name.
Every big software company does this. It's a ridiculous arms race, but you have to play or risk getting sued to oblivion by a patent troll.
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, terminology in legal documents can be quite misleading when interpreted as colloquial language. Something to keep in mind when reading any Legalese.
On the contrary, legal documents are like code - you have to read them exactly as they are worded. They may use complex grammar and obscure vocabulary, but slow down, read every word and pretend it is code. There are no extra words, every "or" and "and" really is a boolean operator that impacts how to interpret a sentence. If you are a coder, extracting an accurate meaning from legalese should come naturally. Just sl…
I just read a case law week about whether "or" in a patent claim should be interpreted as OR or XOR.
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
If that patent was filed in 98, it expired in 2018.
I wonder if lots of bad parents have expired or are expiring soon? I remember reading the most dumb patents on slashdot in the early 2000s so maybe.
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, terminology in legal documents can be quite misleading when interpreted as colloquial language. Something to keep in mind when reading any Legalese.
On the contrary, legal documents are like code - you have to read them exactly as they are worded. They may use complex grammar and obscure vocabulary, but slow down, read every word and pretend it is code. There are no extra words, every "or" and "and" really is a boolean operator that impacts how to interpret a sentence. If you are a coder, extracting an accurate meaning from legalese should come naturally. Just sl…
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#67Does anyone have a good software patent story? Where a small company was able to use for good or to fight off a bigger player.
Does a crime become good if the victim is big and the perpetrator is small?
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
If that patent was filed in 98, it expired in 2018.
I wonder if lots of bad parents have expired or are expiring soon? I remember reading the most dumb patents on slashdot in the early 2000s so maybe.
Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#69Re: Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been the bread and butter of PHP for two decades And many other things too, but someone had to be first. I doubt it was IBM but there would have been some elapsed time between TBL inventing HTML and the first time someone dynamically generated it from an RDBMS. That’s the person who could claim prior art.
I did exactly this in 1996 when we implemented a case management system with a web-based frontend. It used a home-grown webserver written in Perl that was talking SQL to a Sybase instance. And it was definitely not something unique. This project started because I was asking (probably on Usenet) for advice on what GUI framework we should use, and was recommended to build the application using web technologies. The fac…
(This patent does not claim presenting SQL result in HTML -- it claims a particular way of mapping between the POST HTML and DB2 SQL using a customized macro language -- referred to as a common namespace in claim 1)