JavaScript and the Eolas '906 patent from Richard M. Smith on 2003-09-01 (public-web-plugins@w3.org from September 2003)

From: Richard M. Smith <rms@computerbytesman.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 09:54:52 -0400
To: "'W3C Public Web Plugins List'" <public-web-plugins@w3.org>
Message-ID: <009e01c37090$a0aa6930$550ffea9@rms>

Hi,

It seems to me that JavaScript programs might possibly infringe on the
Eolas '906 patent in certain circumstances.  One example would be a
JavaScript program running in its own IFRAME.  The combination of
JavaScript and IFRAMEs is typically used to show banner ads in Web
pages.  

One question that needs to be answered here is if the Microsoft Jscript
interpreter is an external program or not.  From the standpoint of the
'906 patent, it just might be.  The Jscript interpreter is packaged as a
DLL and it can be embedded in any application using documented COM
interfaces.

Eolas, I believe, is already claiming that scriptlets infringe the '906
patent.  Scriplets never became very popular, but they are a method of
writing ActiveX objects in JavaScript.  They are invoked by the <OBJECT>
tag in Web pages.

INAL, YMMV, etc.

Richard M. Smith
http://www.ComputerBytes.com

Received on Monday, 1 September 2003 09:55:06 UTC