Re: Patent threat over RDF?

A quick search turned up this;

http://www.pearlltd.com/content/investments.html

"Late in 1999, PEARL agreed with UFIL Unified Data Technologies Ltd. to assist in the enforcement of a patent that covers a number of elements critical to the next generation of web browsers and other Internet-related programs. Under the terms of the funding agreement, PEARL will assist in enforcing the claims of UDTL's U.S. Patent covering technology that allows different forms of stored digital documents to be searched and accessed more efficiently on the Internet. PEARL's rights are limited to one application of the UDTL technology, which also has other commercial applications. It is believed that the patent is being infringed by the many companies building products based on an emerging metadata standard known as the Resource Description Framework (RDF). This standard was issued recently by the World Wide Web Organization, a standards body with more than 100 of the leading information technology companies as members. UDTL, a private company registered in Barbados, claims th!
!
at RDF relies on technology covered by UDTL's patent. This agreement has been assigned to PEARL (New Jersey). PEARL's agreement with UDTL identifies 44 potential infringers of the software. In return for enforcing the patent, PEARL will receive 50% of any revenues after legal costs. "

MB
-- 
Mark Baker, Chief Science Officer, Planetfred, Inc.
Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA.      mbaker@planetfred.com
http://www.markbaker.ca   http://www.planetfred.com

Received on Wednesday, 2 January 2002 12:30:46 UTC