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The Problem of Software Patents in Standards (Technocrat.net)
Bruce Perens has written an
article on software patents in standards, at Technocrat.net.
"Patents, originally created to stimulate innovation, may now be
having the opposite effect, at least in the software industry. Plagued by
an exponential growth in software patents, many of which are not valid,
software vendors and developers must navigate a potential minefield to
avoid patent infringement and future lawsuits. Coupled with strategies to
exploit this confusion over patents, especially in standards setting
organizations, it appears that software advancement will become stifled
unless legal action is taken to resolve the situation. This article
examines the current situation facing software developers and users, the
methods employed by standards setting organizations to address these
problems, and recommends strategies for resolving the problem caused by
software patents."
(Log in to post comments)
The Problem of Software Patents in Standards (Technocrat.net) Posted Nov 8, 2004 23:22 UTC (Mon) by rickfdd (guest, #4519) [Link] Didn't radio once suffer from patent deadlock? IIRC the U.S.governement at one time set aside all radio patents because nobody could obtain enough rights to make a radio system.
Sadly, that may be impossible to repeat today with software
The Problem of Software Patents in Standards (Technocrat.net) Posted Nov 9, 2004 13:40 UTC (Tue) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] That's why they want software patents in Europe---so European slaves can be as miserable as American slaves, to the benefit of their masters.
The Problem of Software Patents in Standards (Technocrat.net) Posted Nov 9, 2004 19:34 UTC (Tue) by cpm (subscriber, #3554) [Link] Hey Bruce;
"growth in software patents, many of which are not valid,"
I thought that a patent couldn't be "not valid" until it
It may be your opinion (and mine) that these patents
The Problem of Software Patents in Standards (Technocrat.net) Posted Nov 10, 2004 20:00 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (subscriber, #2510) [Link] Perhaps you're confusing valid with granted. Microsoft's FAT patent was a granted patent, One person petitioned for re-examination, and presented sufficient prior art that every claim in the patent was rejected by the same patent office that originally granted it. Which means it wasn't examined sufficiently. Certainly it was never valid, no matter what the date was upon which the patent office finally understood that fact. Given that all US patents are in essentially the same state, there can be no assumption that a granted patent is valid.Bruce
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