] Eastman Kodak Co. will return to U.S. District Court next
] week to seek $1 billion in damages from Sun Microsystems
] Inc. now that a federal jury has ruled in its favor in a
] dispute over the Java computer language.
]
] The jury decided in Rochester on Friday that Sun
] infringed on technology belonging to Kodak when it
] developed and introduced Java more than a decade ago. The
] computer language is now used heavily by software
] developers, on the Internet and in computer schools.
]
] The patents describe a method by which a program can "ask
] for help" from another application to carry out certain
] computer-oriented functions. That's generally similar to
] the way Java operates, according to Kodak and other
] experts.

The jury say that the way the Java Runtime interpreter runs Java byte code was an instance of program "asking for help."

WTF?! How the hell could such a broad patent be granted? Programs helping another out? Wouldn't that include dynamic link libraries? They're code, and other programs use them to help do it task. What about System calls? The kernel is "helping" isn't it? Prior art for this patent? How about nearly every damn advance in Computer Science?

] Kodak in pre-trial documents indicated it would ask for $1.06
] billion in lump-sum royalties – a figure that represents half of
] Sun's operating profit from the sales of computer servers and
] storage equipment between January 1998 and June 2001

Software patents are being used to kill innovation, not foster it. There should be a rule that if you have a patent, and someone else does something really cool with the idea that was covered, something you never planned to or were even investigating, such as writing a cross-platform computer language, then they don't owe you jack. Of course, this would not work, but its a nice dream.

Kodak gets to have its way with Sun, prison style.