Epicrealm claims that it owns the idea behind dynamic websites: the ability to present each visitor with a custom website. Most of today's websites are covered by the patent. Just thinking about that little factoid made dollar signs appear in the company's eyes.

So last year Epicrealm set out on a legal journey, filing 13 lawsuits against smaller companies that can easily be scared into paying licence fees. After all, trying to invalidate a patent through the courts costs an estimated $8m in legal fees, and could be catastrophic if you end up losing.

While five of the targeted victims have since settled, the Epicrealm's patent crusade also attracted the attention of PubPat. The foundation's executive director Dan Ravicher told vnunet.com that he was confident that the would win the case.

"This is one of the strongest cases that I've ever had," Ravicher.

By the way, IBM didn't seem to know it owned its patent. Earlier this year the company settled a lawsuit with Epicrealm on behalf of Safelite, on of its clients that held Big Blue to the indemnification provision in its software licence agreement.

Photo credit: Ken Duncan

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