You will already have seen this, probably. Read this coverage at Aviran's Place again nevertheless. Made it to Digg's front. No wonder. Don't be lazy, read the published patent.

This man, Neil Balthaser got a patent issued on Valentine’s Day that is said to cover all rich-media technology implementations, including Flash, Flex, Java, Ajax, and XAML, when and if the rich-media application is accessed on any device over the Internet, including desktops, mobile devices, set-top boxes, and video game consoles. Neil Balthaser, CEO of Balthaser Online, which he owns with his father Ken is not shy about his patent: “You can consider it a pioneering or umbrella patent. The broader claim is one that basically says that if you got a rich Internet application, it is covered by this patent.”

Methods, Systems, And Processes For The Design And Creation Of Rich-Media Applications Via The Internet

The patent, No. 7,000,180 or 180 for short, is entitled Methods, Systems, And Processes For The Design And Creation Of Rich-Media Applications Via The Internet. It contains 83 claims that encompass a wide range of rich-media Net application methods, systems, and processes.

Kill HTML before It Kills Us

Now that man's neither stupid nor an asshole. An article on the The Interactive Design Forum quoted from a Balthaser "New Media" article with the above title:
We must summon the courage to throw away our crutches and rally behind the technologies that will liberate our creativity and open the doors of possibility. Currently, Flash is our best weapon. Drop HTML, pick up Flash, and really learn it — then push it.

Flashkit Australia 2001 participant Tammy Creaser had this to say about Neil:
"The conference was great.
Neil Balthazar was an excellent speaker - it was really good to hear from one of the high flyers and innovators in the industry.
The full-on 3D demo at the end was also a highlight for me....
Can't think of any criticisms, sorry. I enjoyed the whole lot."

Aviran's Place's Fact- 'n Sayfinding

Because he began developing the methods and processes more than a half decade ago, he believes he can prove his invention is novel and nonobvious, two requirements to get a patent, and can fend off any patent challenges from potential licensees who might contend the invention is neither new nor obscure. “Are we ready to defend our patent?” Balthaser asks. “Absolutely. We’re ready to defend it vigorously if we have to. But [litigation is] not the approach we’re taking in terms of licensing.”

What tinytalk analysis says

Licensing fees are going to flow for a while yet (mostly from MSFT, GOOG and ADBE), the patent will be difficult to handl for the Mozilla foundation, but: In the end, the open source software + professional services concept is going to win out because it will be more productive, efficient and more fun. That holds not only for structured computer software, but also for any kind of content, so the Common Creatives will also win in the end. All fundamentals point to that. We also have reason to believe, that in spite of scary symptoms the revolution will be unbloody and televised too, probably.

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