An Open Letter to Monica Jones, CEO of the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Correcting the Record: U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 and the 2006 Inductions
This page documents a correction request that Mark Nichols delivered to Monica Jones, CEO of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, concerning the inductee entries for Vinton G. Cerf and Robert E. Kahn at invent.org. Each entry pairs the invention title “Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol” with U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628. U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 is titled “System for distributed task execution”, was filed on October 21, 1997, was granted on June 3, 2003, is assigned to the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, and names three inventors, Robert E. Kahn, Vinton G. Cerf, and David K. Ely.
Mark Nichols verified both entries and the patent by direct read on September 17, 2026. The patent’s own title, abstract, and fifty-nine claims concern mobile programs, and the words Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol appear in none of the claims. The patent’s own Introduction describes the Internet as “another highly successful software-based open-architecture interconnection system”. The entries name two of the patent’s three inventors, and David K. Ely appears nowhere on either entry.
The letter below asks the National Inventors Hall of Fame to correct the patent attribution on the two entries where it appears, so that each entry states the record of U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 faithfully as written.
The Letter as Delivered
An Open Letter to Monica Jones, CEO of the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Dear Ms. Jones,
I write publicly because the record I am asking you to correct is public, and because what the National Inventors Hall of Fame states about the invention it honored in 2006 is an assertion that contradicts the patent as the United States Patent and Trademark Office records it.
What the National Inventors Hall of Fame publishes is as follows: on the inductee entry for Vinton G. Cerf and on the inductee entry for Robert E. Kahn, the invention title “Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol” is paired with “U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628” and “Inducted in 2006”.
What U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 records is as follows: the title “System for distributed task execution”; the filing date of October 21, 1997; the grant date of June 3, 2003; the assignee, the Corporation for National Research Initiatives; and three inventors, Robert E. Kahn, Vinton G. Cerf, and David K. Ely.
The issue is a misattribution of a material fact. The entries do not characterize the honor; the pairing states which patent covers the honored invention, and the patent’s own text states what the patent covers. The patent’s fifty-nine claims concern mobile programs, the words Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol appear in none of them, and the patent’s own Introduction describes the Internet as “another highly successful software-based open-architecture interconnection system”, an existing system the invention is measured against. TCP was specified in May 1974 in “A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication” by Vinton G. Cerf and Robert E. Kahn in the IEEE Transactions on Communications; U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 was filed twenty-three years later and does not claim that work.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame serves the pairing on both entries, each verified by direct read on September 17, 2026.
https://www.invent.org/inductees/vinton-g-cerf
https://www.invent.org/inductees/robert-e-kahn
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6574628B1/en
The pairing also removes a named inventor from his own patent. U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 names David K. Ely beside Robert E. Kahn and Vinton G. Cerf, and the entries name only two of the three men. A correction that states the patent faithfully restores a third name the record already contains.
The 2006 inductions stand as honors to Robert E. Kahn and Vinton G. Cerf, and the truest respect for an honored invention is its own patent. I ask that the National Inventors Hall of Fame correct the patent attribution on the two entries where it appears, so that each entry states the record of U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 faithfully as written.
Respectfully,
Mark Nichols
The Exhibits
The two entries also disagree on the capitalization of the word Internet. The National Inventors Hall of Fame entry for Vinton G. Cerf writes the capitalized proper noun Internet throughout, including in the phrase “fathers of the Internet”, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame entry for Robert E. Kahn writes the lowercase internet throughout, including in the phrase “fathers of the internet”. The capitalization carries meaning in technical writing: the capitalized Internet names the single operating global system, and the lowercase internet names any interconnection of networks. The two halves of one shared honor do not agree on which of the two their inductees are credited with, and The Governing Definitions page of this site records why the difference controls.
The Record of U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 Is the Patent’s Own Text, and the Text Concerns Knowbot Programs
U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 carries the title “System for distributed task execution”. The abstract of U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 reads as follows:
“Tasks can be done on a network of multiple computers interconnected by communication links. At each of the computers, Knowbot programs may be received and transmitted on the communication links, and may be stored and created; and execution of the tasks associated with the Knowbot programs may be advanced. Each Knowbot program includes a globally unique identifier; navigation information defining a route through the network; and information concerning a task to be done. Knowbot programs may interact with each other and with other network resources. Authenticated Knowbot service stations and Couriers may be used to protect data as well as control its application in the network environment according to stated terms and conditions.”
The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 on June 3, 2003, on an application filed October 21, 1997, naming the inventors Robert E. Kahn, Vinton G. Cerf, and David K. Ely, with the Corporation for National Research Initiatives as assignee. Google Patents records the status of U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 as “Expired – Lifetime”, with anticipated expiration on May 30, 2015. The full patent document is preserved at https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/40/ec/bd/ab78b84a03dc12/US6574628.pdf.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame’s Own Inductee Search Returns No Result for David K. Ely, the Third Inventor Named on U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628
U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 names three inventors: Robert E. Kahn, Vinton G. Cerf, and David K. Ely. The National Inventors Hall of Fame displays U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 on its Vinton G. Cerf entry and on its Robert E. Kahn entry, and David K. Ely appears on neither entry, each entry verified by direct read on September 17, 2026. On September 17, 2026, the National Inventors Hall of Fame’s own inductee search at https://www.invent.org/inductees/search?combine=david+ely, asked for David Ely, returned 250 results, led by Sara Blakely, SPANX® Shapewear, U.S. Patent No. 6,276,176, inducted in 2026, whose surname ends in the letters e, l, y, and returned no result for David K. Ely. Every result card in the hall’s database pairs an inductee’s name with an invention title and a U.S. patent number, and the hall’s own homepage states, “In partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the National Inventors Hall of Fame® honors the legacies of visionary U.S. patent holders.” By the hall’s own convention the patent is the credential, and the hall’s own inductee search returns no record for the third named holder of U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628. A correction that states U.S. Patent No. 6,574,628 faithfully as written places David K. Ely’s name on the two entries that display his patent.
