ITAA Terms Y2K Patent Re-evaluation Decision 'Courageous'

Business Wire, Dec 22, 1999

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 1999

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) today termed "courageous" a recent decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to revisit its decision to grant a patent to Bruce Dickens for a technique used to fix Y2K date references in software.

While taking no position as to the merits of the patent itself, ITAA said the move will help companies stay focused on fixing and testing systems in the final run up to the rollover event.

Late yesterday the USPTO announced that Assistant Secretary of Commerce and PTO Commissioner Todd Dickinson ordered a reexamination of the Dickens patent. In doing so, the USPTO itself noted, "Commissioner-ordered reexaminations are discretionary and rare." Such a move is prompted by the availability of significant information not considered in the patent application process and the existence of other important factors, such as expressions of concern by a substantial section of industry.

"We applaud the courageous decision of the USPTO Commissioner in directing a reexamination of the Dickens2000 patent," said ITAA President Harris N. Miller. "There were substantial questions of validity that this formal and deliberative process will now resolve. ITAA has been proud to have been a part of the public discourse in calling a number of "prior art" documents to the attention of the Patent and Trademark Office. With this move by USPTO, we hope that attention can now be redirected to more immediate and productive readiness issues."

USPTO issued patent number 5,806,063, titled "Date Formatting and Sorting for Dates Spanning the Turn of the Century," to McDonnell Douglas, which now is part of Boeing, on September 8, 1998. The "inventor," Bruce Dickens of Irvine, California, "purchased" the patent from Boeing earlier this year for a reported $10,000 assignment fee. Dickens subsequently sent letters to a number of Fortune 1000 companies demanding that they pay him a "licensing fee" of up to $50,000 and an additional $1,000- $2,000 per month. He recently announced an intention to substantially increase the royalty fee after the first of the year to those organizations who did not agree to his initial terms.

A discussion of the Dickens2000 patent, as well as prior art citations is available at http://www.itaa.org/year2000/dickens.htm .

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) provides global public policy, business networking, and national leadership to promote the continued rapid growth of the IT industry. ITAA consists of over 400 direct and 26,000 affiliate corporate members throughout the U.S., and a global network of 39 countries' IT associations. The Association plays the leading role in issues of IT industry concern including taxes and finance policy, intellectual property, telecommunications competition, workforce and education, encryption, critical infrastructure protection, online privacy and consumer protection, securities litigation reform, government IT procurement, and human resources policy. ITAA members range from the smallest IT start-ups to industry leaders in the Internet, software, IT services, ASP, digital content, systems integration, telecommunications, and enterprise solution fields. For more information visit http://www.itaa.org .