Am 25.11.2004 um 07:41 schrieb Ned Konz:

I wonder if we'll have to pay royalties on #~~ now...

No.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the compiler is a BASIC-derived programming language compiler.

If you language is not basic-derived, you are save. The "invention" isn't "isNot" but "isNot" for BASIC.

And the best:

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the source code comprises at least one statement, and the statement comprises a keyword representing the operator, the keyword recognized by the scanner.

So even if you have a isNot in your BASIC, just change your compiler to not recognize it in the Scanner as an Operator, but add it to the Grammar and let the parser do the work. Puff, not in the scope of the patent any more.

This patent is not only evil, trivial so on, but *very* *very* badly written, as it takes only a second to find a workaround.

Marcus