Xref: utzoo gnu.misc.discuss:3067 comp.misc:12528 comp.dcom.modems:9695 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!mintaka!ai-lab!life!tmb From: tmb@ai.mit.edu (Thomas M. Breuel) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,comp.misc,comp.dcom.modems Subject: Re: hayes lawsuit Message-ID: Date: 13 May 91 08:15:49 GMT References: <1991May13.044909.3617@netdev.comsys.com> Sender: news@ai.mit.edu Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab Lines: 35 In-reply-to: alex@netdev.comsys.com's message of 13 May 91 04:49:09 GMT In article <1991May13.044909.3617@netdev.comsys.com> alex@netdev.comsys.com (Alex Huppenthal) writes: Boycott Hayes for their stupid lawsuit which is crippling Ventel on copyright infringement. They have gone so far as to contact Ventel's customers and indicate all accounts payable should be delivered to Hayes - Nice guys.... Don't hi-tech companies have anything better to do than qibble about their standards infringement ? It's a sorry excuse for technical leadership. Perhaps Hayes lost that edge a long time ago... If anyone know more about this lawsuit I'd be happy to hear about the details. The patent attorneys for the defendants in Hayes' patent infringement suit are still looking for other examples of "prior art" in the case. Hayes is claiming to have invented the idea of using timeouts to transmit out-of-band data to modems (in particular, their use of the "+++" sequence with timeout to switch a modem from transparent mode into command mode). They want to keep other people from making Hayes compatible modems by enforcing this claim. To most people "skilled in the art" that I have talked to, this patent claim is frivolous; Hayes simply set a standard, but did not "invent" any new process or device. If you can think of uses prior to the mid-1980's of timeouts or timing to transmit out-of-band commands or data to a computer or communications device, please drop me a note, and I can put you in touch with the attorneys handling the case. Thomas. PS: I have no financial interest in this matter. I simply dislike Hayes' patent claim.