Patent on displaying SQL data in HTML, granted to IBM in 1998

IBM pays their company employees to file patents. It is also one of the key factor for promotions. That's why you can see lot's of stupid patents out there in IBM name.

This is comical. It patents the entire system from HTML forms to get the input to prepare the SQL query, to server sending data as formatted HTML back to client.<p>This has been the bread and butter of PHP for two decades. I&#x27;m glad no one tried to enforce this to take away like 99% of the internet.

Does anyone have a good software patent story? Where a small company was able to use for good or to fight off a bigger player.

I never understand where patents start and end with the bit they claim to be new. Where is that in the patent document? In this case they’re talking about executing sql and rendering as html. Ok. Fine. Phpmyadmin was already doing that in 1998. But they also talk about these macro files that you’re executing by substituting variables into them. As that the new thing? Are these just stored procedures? I feel like we were already doing that in 1998 too.

&quot;Since 1920, IBM has received more than 140,000 U.S. patents&quot;.<p>Let that sink in.<p>Source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.research.ibm.com&#x2F;patents&#x2F;#:~:text=Since%201920%2C%20IBM%20has%20received,the%20patents%20awarded%20to%20IBM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.research.ibm.com&#x2F;patents&#x2F;#:~:text=Since%201920%2...</a>.

How does one developing a product find out if they are infringing a patent? Apart from the Apple&#x2F;Samsung patent battle few years ago and to an extent Google&#x2F;Oracle battle, I don’t remember anything in the tech space leveraging this.<p>Is there a list of companies that got screwed by giant companies because they unknowingly infringed a patent?

One of IBM’s most important patents was filed around 1987–I don’t remember the date exactly-it covered the cookie.<p>Even back then IBM was subject to patent trolls patenting things like using the ctrl key, etc. and then going after IBM. They liked having a huge collection of patents and even disclosed inventions that were not patented but instead published in a publication (I think it was called something like <i>The IBM Invention Disclosure Bulletin</i>) that was available in only a handful of public libraries, like the New York public library. That way if they wanted to use a technique that they had already disclosed they could use these publications of proof of prior art. I filed a few ideas that they said they weren’t interested in that didn’t even qualify for this level of disclosure.

I think that the patents in it&#x27;s current state (in the US at least and in the software area in particular) are outlived their usefulness. It was an artificial construct to begin with with the goal that small people can invent things and rip some benefits. Now it is a large scale tactical and strategic weapon amassed by large corporations. If followed to the letter small person&#x2F;company can not do f..k all without breaking some obscure patent&#x27;s clause. If enforced to the letter the players that are not big enough would not be able to create any meaningful software. And the cost of filing a patent has risen to the point that small person can not really get meaningful patent (speaking from personal experience of trying to get not software related patent in the US).

<i>expired</i> patent.

Is patents also a way to get around tax?<p>Have a company pay “fee” to the same company registered in another country. You have to defend your patents if not you can get the state against you. The patents is then not guard against competition.

Seems like IBM (patent owned by CISCO now) is officially responsible for inventing SQL injection!<p>There is not mitigation to SQL Injection attack in the patent - didn&#x27;t read it all word by wors but skimmed it through.

It may look silly now but the patent was first filed only a few months after first Netscape browser was released. Back in 1995. I remember the web in 1994 and 1995. I don’t blame for filing it.

As IBM core revenue continues to decline there is a serious risk that they will become a patent troll.

Ever wonder why the US dominates in the number of patents? This is why.