[IP] Re: Boingo awarded patent for hotspot access

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "William Stucke" <William@zanet.co.za>
Date: June 24, 2009 3:24:22 AM EDT
To: <dave@farber.net>
Subject: RE: [IP] Boingo awarded patent for hotspot access

Hi David,

> This patent highlights our commitment.

Unless the patent is for something other than indicated in the  
article, this
patent rather highlights the stupidity of the US Patent Office, which  
has
issued patents for many other things that are by no means original
inventions, including the children's swing, recently.

Of the many things claimed in this patent, only interchanging data  
between
an access point database on the client device and on a central server  
seems
vaguely original.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1
&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,483,984.PN.&OS=PN/ 
7,483
,984&RS=PN/7,483,984

They're in good company. The Australian Patent Office accepted a  
patent for
the wheel ...

Kind regards,

William Stucke
--
William@qpop.co.za
Cell:   083-308-0700
After Hours: 074-333-0109







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