9 Dec
2004
9 Dec
'04
4:15 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Davis" <paul(a)linuxaudiosystems.com>
fear, and copycat behaviour. there is this idea
(inspired by IBM and
others) of building a "patent portfolio" that could be used
defensively if sued by other patent holders. as in "ok, you sued me
for infringing on Foo, i'll sue you for infringing on Bar". But most
owners of patents Foo or Bar can't risk actually suing because their
patent is stupid.
its the kind of stupid game that you'd have hoped ended when we left
the school playing field.
That's nosense to me. In that case it would be easier for those companies to
promote the "abolition" of software patents, forget that game and not to
worry about any software patents. And the recent declarations of Mr Ballmer
suggest that they are planning to play another game.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erik de Castro Lopo" <erikd-lad(a)mega-nerd.com>
Apart from encouraging stupid patents, the best thing
you can do is ignore
it completely. When and if you get a cease and desist letter you do the
following:
0) Get the patent holder to provide enough information for you to
figure out if you might infinge or not.
1) If you are out of jurisdiction you may want to disregard the
patent anyway.
2) Get the patent documents and see if the patent can be challenged.
3) If you think it can be challenged, state so publicly in the web
page for the software and tell the patent holder that you will
challenge the patent validity if they try to bring it to court.
4) If it can't be overturned, say sorry to the patent holder and pull
the software for the 2-3 weeks it takes to reimplement the code
working around the patent.
Erik
Thats the problem with sw patents, having to worry about all these legal
things, working around patents, finding prior art, etc etc I don't thinks
that's any good for a programmer or a small company.
An example (fictional):
I start a new company and I invent some new method of storing or
representing data (or anything) and I patent it.
Then afther some weeks or months I see IBM or MS using my method in their
products.
I cannot sue them to get money for my invention because, as Paul said, they
would use their patent portfolio against me. So the patent system renders
useless for small companies when it's supposed to be made to promote
invention.
Note that all this cases I'm talking in my mails are in the case that
software patents get passed. I know that I've nothing to worry about right
now but maybe in the future (since I live in EU).
Pedro