4) The end
user is not responsible for what patent issues the producer
might get involved with.
Many companies thinks that it is, the SCO vs DaimlerCrysler case (because of
they use Linux) is an example, that case is because of copyright but surely
will be many like that because of patents.
The SCO vs. DCC case is, as far as I can tell, more or less
over. Almost none of the original material is still up for court
decision making, merely whether DCC responded promptly enough to a
message from SCO. None of the SCO related cases have been about
patents.
The only company I know of to have been persistently involved in
patent lawsuits over software is Microsoft, both as a plaintiff and
defendant, and they have lost several cases already.
There is very little patent-related legal activity in the software
world right now, precisely because (1) the USA is the only
jursidiction in which s/w patents even exist and (2) a very large
fraction of the US s/w patents that might be used are dubious at best,
laughable at worst, and bringing them to court could expose the
ridiculous nature of the s/w patent system, which would be bad for
most involved parties.
--p
