do patents threaten syndication?

[dave.cantrell@gunter.af.mil]

Just read a link from Dave Winer's Scripting News updates (I think that's
where I got it) about a company called OOiPTech[1] that has filed a patent
for syndication and aggregation techniques using XML.

To be honest, I really don't see how they can really expect to receive a
patent for something that has been used online in numerous formats since
scriptingNews in 1997. (and perhaps before that, with ICE and others? not
sure...)

Add to that the threat it would pose to companies like Moreover, and it
seems this could be dead-on-arrival.

Of course, prior art hasn't stopped the US Patent office before. One company
(can't remember the name) just received a patent for WYSIWYG HTML editors
and plans to pursue Microsoft and Macromedia first. And I'm sure everyone is
familiar with the (apparently failed) patent awarded for "e-commerce"...