October 17, 2001

8:52 AM

U.S. Patent 6,304,886,from the fine folks at IBM. "The tool comprises a plurality of pre-stored templates, comprising HTML formatting code, text, fields and formulas." (Via Scripting News.)
posted by mrbula (6 comments total)

Or transitively through MetaTalk yesterday...
posted by machaus at 8:55 AM on October 17, 2001

i'm guessing this is a patent for a blogging mechanism. do they actually invent or have a blogging system or did they just file the patent?
posted by destro at 9:00 AM on October 17, 2001

destro: Blogging mechanisms and a myriad of other uses ... I have been using template driven (non weblog) websites for years. Your average website has a single look and feel – the actual page content is the only variable. So, create a standard header, a standard footer, and a placeholder for your content and you’ve got yourself an instant website with a consistent look and feel without hundreds of lines of duplicate HTML. Using a template driven site, you also have the maintenance card in your back pocket – make a change in your header (or footer) and your entire website reflects that change. Templates can be a pain to work with, but I’ve found them to be well worth the effort.
posted by chrish at 9:23 AM on October 17, 2001

Blame the US Patents office, not IBM. No business owner would turn down an opportunity for a patent like this, "ethical" or not.

We need more computer experts in positions of legal influence. Whatever happened to the petition to get RMS on the Patents Advisory Commitee? Anyone?
posted by Succa at 9:23 AM on October 17, 2001

It takes a lot of effort and legal paperwork to get a patent in, not so much influence. IBM's got the resources and the interest to do it.

...but I am curious to see if IBM does have a blogging system out there that might be better than the rest.

if you are chrish, please do not respond.
posted by destro at 9:55 AM on October 17, 2001

It's been said elsewhere, but patents mean nothing unless they are defended and defensible...
posted by fooljay at 7:32 PM on October 17, 2001