11 Nov
2002
11 Nov
'02
11:29 a.m.
If you come up with an idea, blissfully unaware that
there is a patent on
it. How can that patent be valid?
because that's how patents work. first-to-file, first-to-publish, all
that stuff. all that's need (in the US at least) is for a patent
examiner is to agree that the patent claims are non-obvious to a
person skilled in the (relevant) art(s).
Bottom line, screw them and their patent. Let them
send their lawyers
after you, who cares.
their lawyers could potentially bankrupt you if what you were doing
represented a threat to the income they expected to derive from the patent.
if thats OK with you, please go ahead and violate the patent.
anyway, a real programmer wouldn't give a stuff and
write the code
anyway.. =)
real programmers write the code and then discover the patent yes. then
they are puzzled and don't know what to do.
What are we, patent fearing wimps or real men?
real people with real lives that are threatened by breaking the law,
and unsure of the value of doing so given the threat.
--p