Google Found Guilty in Android / Linux Patent Case

Some of you probably have seen this news item but what I could not find
in it is just what they found in Linux kernel that Google was
infringing. After all, Linux is a free OS that anybody can use without a
license, so what's the beef?

<http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=8013>

In article <ip5bqk$4qt$1@dont-email.me>, Cameo says...
>
> Some of you probably have seen this news item but what I could not find
> in it is just what they found in Linux kernel that Google was
> infringing. After all, Linux is a free OS that anybody can use without a
> license, so what's the beef?
>
> <http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=8013>

a) Software patents suck.

b) I'm curious which patents are violated. I've read this story in three
different places. No one tells us what the actual problem was.

c) I hope Google countersues the living crap out of the idiots who sued
them. Oracle may have a couple valid issues regarding copyrights to some
of the Java source code used in Android, but this is a completely
different situation. Linux itself is based on a huge codebase, much of
which was initially created in academia, years ago. I'm curious exactly
what the smaller company thinks it has patents on.

--
Steve Sobol - Programming/WebDev/IT Support
sjsobol@JustThe.net

In looking at the comments to the article cited below, it appears that
someone actually patented the concept of a linked list, and that is what
they were suing over. I guess every computer science student is also in
violation.

- Trevor

On 4/26/2011 8:19 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
> In article<ip5bqk$4qt$1@dont-email.me>, Cameo says...
>>
>> Some of you probably have seen this news item but what I could not find
>> in it is just what they found in Linux kernel that Google was
>> infringing. After all, Linux is a free OS that anybody can use without a
>> license, so what's the beef?
>>
>> <http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=8013>
>
> a) Software patents suck.
>
> b) I'm curious which patents are violated. I've read this story in three
> different places. No one tells us what the actual problem was.
>
> c) I hope Google countersues the living crap out of the idiots who sued
> them. Oracle may have a couple valid issues regarding copyrights to some
> of the Java source code used in Android, but this is a completely
> different situation. Linux itself is based on a huge codebase, much of
> which was initially created in academia, years ago. I'm curious exactly
> what the smaller company thinks it has patents on.
>

"Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:
> a) Software patents suck.

Agreed. Patents on algorithms suck, too.

> b) I'm curious which patents are violated. I've read this story in
> three
> different places. No one tells us what the actual problem was.

I've read somewhere that the patent in question is this (long link, so
make sure to concatenate a broken address line

<http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnet ahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,893,12 0.PN.&OS=PN/5,893,120&RS=PN/5,893,120>

On 4/26/2011 12:40 PM, Cameo wrote:
> "Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:
>> a) Software patents suck.
>
> Agreed. Patents on algorithms suck, too.
>
>> b) I'm curious which patents are violated. I've read this story in three
>> different places. No one tells us what the actual problem was.
>
> I've read somewhere that the patent in question is this (long link, so
> make sure to concatenate a broken address line
>
> <http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnet ahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,893,12 0.PN.&OS=PN/5,893,120&RS=PN/5,893,120>
>
>

Thank you. So it's not just a linked list as I had read somewhere, but a
garbage collection algorithm to be used for linked lists.

- Trevor