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Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

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Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#11

Post by USNetizen »

WestCoastJustin wrote: post #6

The patents were issued and the law must be enforced. You might not like it -- so change it! Reminds me of when Teddy Roosevelt vigorously enforced prohibition to the point that is really pissed people off. The point that I gleaned from this was that he wanted people to stand up and change the law. I hope that patent trolls raise a stink and enforce their rights because it will hopefully lead to change. UPDATE: see c…

Do you mean FRANKLIN Roosevelt? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighteenth_Amendment_to_the_Uni...

Prohibition took effect after Teddy Roosevelt died - during the Woodrow Wilson administration. It was repealed in the first few months of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration in 1933.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#12

Post by skymt »

The patents in question:

http://www.google.com/patents/US5978791

http://www.google.com/patents/US6415280

http://www.google.com/patents/US6928442

http://www.google.com/patents/US7802310

http://www.google.com/patents/US7945539

http://www.google.com/patents/US7945544

http://www.google.com/patents/US7949662

http://www.google.com/patents/US8001096

http://www.google.com/patents/US8099420

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#14

Post by turshija »

skymt wrote: post #12

The patents in question: http://www.google.com/patents/US5978791 http://www.google.com/patents/US6415280 http://www.google.com/patents/US6928442 http://www.google.com/patents/US7802310 http://www.google.com/patents/US7945539 http://www.google.com/patents/US7945544 http://www.google.com/patents/US7949662 http://www.google.com/patents/US8001096 http://www.google.com/patents/US8099420

... depend on all of the data in the data items and only on the data in the data item ... WUUUUT?

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#15

Post by jc4p »

turshija wrote: post #14
skymt wrote: post #12

The patents in question: http://www.google.com/patents/US5978791 http://www.google.com/patents/US6415280 http://www.google.com/patents/US6928442 http://www.google.com/patents/US7802310 http://www.google.com/patents/US7945539 http://www.google.com/patents/US7945544 http://www.google.com/patents/US7949662 http://www.google.com/patents/US8001096 http://www.google.com/patents/US8099420

... depend on all of the data in the data items and only on the data in the data item ... WUUUUT?

An md5sum

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#16

Post by gt384u »

alimoeeny wrote: post #7

"Access denied", what is going on? S3 is messed up or they pulled the page?

Neither. If you look at the S3 URL, they are URLs with expiry times after which they stop serving the content. The cryptographic signature makes it... let's call it "infeasible" to manipulate the URL to change the expiry time.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#17

Post by andreasvc »

iambot wrote: post #5

Could anyone translate the legalese into plain English for us lay-men.

The language is very plain, you just have to skip to the sections which list the claimed infringements. One is for assigning unique identifiers to files (UUIDs, such as SHA1 sums in case of git), and another is about addressing files using those IDs. Basically they're attacking essential elements of git itself but because github is a company they sue them instead hoping to extract money.

There are more infringements but they all seem pretty trivial and variations of each other. They're related to data duplication and access permissions.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#18

Post by mikey_p »

Some of these seem really questionable at first glance (note that I haven't read the entire patents yet)

> United States Patent No. 6,415,280 "Identifying and Requesting Data in Network Using Identifiers Which Are Based On Contents of Data."

This sounds alot like hashing the contents of a file to get and identifier for it. If anything it sounds like maybe Git itself violates this, but I thought that Git hashed the difference between all the changes of a commit to get the hash. Some of the others sounds equally obvious at first glance.

I don't really understand why they are suing Rackspace for the Github service other than the fact that it is hosted by Rackspace and it seems they are an easy target since they are based in Texas along with the plantiff putting them in the same jurisdiction.

It seems like some of the more generic patents related to "Controlling Access to Data in a Data Processing System," "Distributing and Accessing Data in a Data Processing System," and "Accessing Data in a Data Processing System" could apply to lots of other services and cloud providers anyway. Why not go after Amazon or someone else that does Git hosting?

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#19

Post by sswezey »

iambot wrote: post #5

Could anyone translate the legalese into plain English for us lay-men.

Sure, it isn't really that bad - mostly the same boilerplate repeated _ad nauseum_. They are being sued by two patent troll LLC's in the Eastern District of Texas. The patents (9) are very generic sounding:

* Data Processing System Using Substantially Unique Identifiers to Identify Data Items, Whereby Data Items Have the Same Identifiers.

* Identifying and Requesting Data in Network Using Identifiers Which Are Based On Contents of Data.

* Enforcement and Policing of Licensed Content Using Content-based Identifiers.

* Controlling Access to Data in a Data Processing System.

* Distributing and Accessing Data in a Data Processing System.

* Similarity-Based Access Control of Data in a Data Processing System.

* De-duplication of Data in a Data Processing System.

* Computer File System Using Content- Dependent File Identifiers.

* Accessing Data in a Data Processing System.

The rest of the document (linked above) just says that they want reparations for damages incurred from these 'patent infringements'.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#20

Post by wbond »

skymt wrote: post #12

The patents in question: http://www.google.com/patents/US5978791 http://www.google.com/patents/US6415280 http://www.google.com/patents/US6928442 http://www.google.com/patents/US7802310 http://www.google.com/patents/US7945539 http://www.google.com/patents/US7945544 http://www.google.com/patents/US7949662 http://www.google.com/patents/US8001096 http://www.google.com/patents/US8099420

The titles of the patents:

5978791: Data Processing System Using Substantially Unique Identifiers to Identify Data Items, Whereby Data Items Have the Same Identifiers.

6415280: Identifying and Requesting Data in Network Using Identifiers Which Are Based On Contents of Data.

6928442: Enforcement and Policing of Licensed Content Using Content-based Identifiers.

7802310: Controlling Access to Data in a Data Processing System.

7945539: Distributing and Accessing Data in a Data Processing System.

7945544: Similarity-Based Access Control of Data in a Data Processing System.

7949662: De-duplication of Data in a Data Processing System.

8001096: Computer File System Using Content-Dependent File Identifiers.

8099420: Accessing Data in a Data Processing System.

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