The US Patent Office just granted a web design firm called Balthaser a patent on "methods, systems and processes for the design and creation of rich-media applications via the Internet." Balthaser is the latest in a string of companies to gain notoriety by emerging from the intellectual property abyss with a doomsday patent capable of impeding technological progress and irritating a lot of other companies. According to today's patent weather forecast, there will be a heavy shower of cynicism and the sky might fall.
Balthesar makes a web-based design tool called pro:FX that enables users to build their own web applications using an interactive system constructed with Flash. Balthaser's patent covers almost exactly that process, but it is broad enough to encapsulate web based design tools constructed with virtually any technology or framework. Which technologies could be affected by this patent? According to CEO Neil Balthaser, quite a few:
"The patent covers all rich media technology implementations including Flash, Flex, Java, AJAX and XAML and all device footprints which access rich-media Internet applications including desktops, mobile devices, set-top boxes and video game consoles. Balthaser will be able to provide licenses for almost any Rich-Media Internet Application across a broad range of devices and networks."
Web-based media content creation and distribution are becoming increasingly popular, and there are a growing number of web applications that take advantage of these principles. With technologies like AJAX taking a much more relevant role in modern software development, a patent on web-based media construction could massively cripple the technology industry for years to come and put a serious hamper on the Web 2.0 hype. The implications of such a patent illuminate some of the deficiencies of the American system of intellectual property law.
Most large corporations contend that patents promote innovation and protect research investments. Consumer advocacy groups and smaller businesses argue that companies often abuse patents, and use intellectual property litigation as leverage to perpetuate monopolies, crush smaller competitors, exploit consumers, and stifle innovation.
With progress and technological development proceeding at such a rapid pace, it is obvious that the US Patent Office and the present patent system are poorly equipped to deal with the realities represented by the contemporary software industry. The number of patent applications filed in the past decade has increased by 73 percent, with over 400,000 filed last year alone. Unfortunately, potential solutions are all hotly contested and ideological differences have largely impeded necessary reform. Intellectual property law continues to become more convoluted at the expense of consumers and innovation, while companies that don't actually develop products are cashing in on the faulty system, further degrading the situation.
The Balthaser patent may not withstand scrutiny in the long term, since there seem to be some examples of prior art, particularly products from a company called Javu cited in the source article. Even if the patent is eventually reevaluated and eliminated, it may create some concerns about the legal viability of web-based media content services that infringe upon the patent. Companies developing innovative new web-based media technologies could have trouble getting the backing of investors and some companies may decide to avoid the field altogether until the dust settles. Hopefully this patent will die a quick death and lawmakers will get down to the business of reforming intellectual property law to protect the industry from excessively broad patents.
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