Surely URL "capture" predates wi-fi and wireless hotspots? Wasn't it used in some traditional dial-up ISP NAS (Network Access Server) applications?
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of jo3 Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 5:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SOCALWUG] New License Fee May Face Hotspot Operators I guess the Patent Officers have been smoking more crack than usual. I can't imagine that this would pass anyone's non-obvious/non-trivial test. I sincerely hope that someone has the guts, and vast legal resources, to stop this sort of nonsense before it gets out of hand! Frank Keeney wrote: > > By Nancy Gohring > Special to Wi-Fi Networking News > http://wifinetnews.com/archives/002848.html > > A patent awarded to Nomadix last week could force hotspot operators to pay > royalties to Nomadix or change the way their networks work: Nomadix > received a patent for technology that it claims it developed first which > allows hotspot operators to redirect customers to a sign-up page, often > referred to as a "gateway" page, when they first fire up their computers. > "We're the first to develop this technology and we've been doing it for a > while," said Joel Short, chief technology officer and senior vice > president for Nomadix. > > Many hotspot networks, particularly the larger ones that charge for > access, redirect customers to a specific home page where they can sign in > or pay for access. Often their methods for redirect were developed > in-house. Redirection involves the access point or back-end system > capturing any Web page request from an unauthenticated user on the network > and redirecting them to a page that contains login or usage information. > > "Some have copied what we've done," Short said. "We stand behind our > intellectual property and now we're going to encourage those folks who > provide that method to license the technology from us." > > STSN, Hilton Hotels, and some McDonald's restaurants have licensed Nomadix > technology, but T-Mobile, Wayport, Cometa, Surf and Sip, and other hotspot > operators don't have licenses. STSN and Nomadix have both received > investments from the Intel Capital wireless fund. > > Most of the non-licensed operators have been reluctant to discuss the new > patent. Cometa declined to comment on the matter. T-Mobile has been > working on a comment since the middle of last week but has yet to provide > a reaction to the new patent. Wayport and Surf and Sip are looking into > the issue further before commenting. > > If Nomadix chooses to pursue companies that use redirect without licensing > its technology, the operators will either have to pay license fees, argue > the reasonableness of the patent in court, or forgo using redirect. > Redirection allows new or existing customers to avoid installing client > software for connecting to a network, although some networks are moving > towards requiring special hotspot software, which would sidestep this > issue. > > Many free community networks have also used redirection as a method of > asking users to acknowledge that they are agreeing to a set of principles > to use the free networks. Schlotzsky's Deli and many free or sponsored > commercial networks also employ the method. > > Companies are not required to enforce patents as they are trademarks; a > patent holder can cherry pick specific targets for licensing or litigation > without losing the use of the patent. > > http://www.nomadix.com/company/pressroom/pressrelease.asp?id=PR01200401 > http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1 &u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,636,894.WKU.&OS=PN/6,636,894&RS=P N/6,636,894 > >
