[CLUE-Talk] Patent Infringement

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 03-02 23:44, bill ehlert wrote:
> 
> **  patents.  my understanding is that
>     they're a means of advancing the "state
>     of the art" by requiring anybody who
>     gets one to disclose in the patent
>     app just exactly how he/she does
>     what the patent does.
> 
>     seems to be that advancing the state of
>     the art should advance open-source
>     s/w just as much as any other s/w.
>     perhaps more due the to the inherent
>     advantages of the open-source 
>     development model.
> 
>     so why are we making fun of it???

Well, along the lines that Jeffrey and Dennis were going:

1. When you award "software patents" for ideas that aren't really that
novel, I'm not sure it's advancing anything. If/when a patent on, say,
one-click buying expires, what information will the public gain from Amazon
on this? There is no algorithm. There is no real trade secret here. What
about a patent on "delivering music over a network"? For a while there at
least, it's almost as if someone could add "over the Internet" to any
standard business practice, and gain a patent on it. Imagine if
brick-n-mortar worked the same way: we'd have only one fast food chain
that was allowed to have a drive-thru. Or only one grocery store chain that
was allowed to use bar code scanners.

2. Patents could be used to *stifle* open-source development, and I think I
recall one of Microsoft's leaked memos stating just that strategy. I'd be
willing to wager money that companies with deep pockets will do just that,
too. If Microsoft has to compete on price and quality alone, they aren't
going to do too well.

3. They are being extended (as are copyrights) way beyond what was
originally intended. And in software, just as others have said, 14 years is
way too long as it is.  


-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at americanisp.net  
http://users.americanisp.net/~seanleblanc/
Get MLAC at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlac/
Disneyland: A people trap operated by a giant mouse. 
(contributed by Frank v Waveren)