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Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)Posted Sep 18, 2006 17:22 UTC (Mon) by emkey (guest, #144)In reply to: Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) by BrucePerens Parent article: Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)
Sticks and stones may not break our bones, but poor public perception certainly can.
Note, I'm all for preventing software patents where they don't exists and getting rid of them where they do but it isn't clear to me that those two options are feasible.
Building up a library of prior art and patents is a poor backup plan but it is far better then no backup plan at all.
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Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) Posted Sep 18, 2006 20:02 UTC (Mon) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] Sticks and stones may not break our bones, but poor public perception certainly can.But not nearly as badly as assuming we'll fail before we start. Sure, some people will try to label us hippies, but that just means that we have opposition. It's taken for granted that you will have to fight that sort of stuff whenever any kind of attempt to reform law is taken on. Bruce
Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) Posted Sep 18, 2006 20:28 UTC (Mon) by emkey (guest, #144) [Link] I don't assume failure, I fear it. Though I certainly see your point.
I also understand the concerns of those who fear that attacking this problem on to many fronts will dilute the effort and lead to failure.
However, I tend to think there is a happy medium ground. I also tend to dislike stances that claim there is one true and perfect approach to solving a particular problem. In my experience this is never true. As a general rule there are multiple paths to any particular destination. Each of them will have somewhat different tradeoffs of course and that should certainly weigh into the path each of us chooses to follow.
I also feel that in most cases it is counterproductive to criticise other people for choosing a different path in situations where everyone is heading for the same destination.
Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) Posted Sep 18, 2006 21:29 UTC (Mon) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] I would not feel the need to be critical of OSDL's efforts except that I feel they will do harm to Open Source.OSDL's program will be used as a sham to convince governments that the problem software patenting presents for Open Source is being dealt with, and that regulators can go ahead and impose enforcible software patents in Europe. And that may just end up killing the golden goose. Bruce
Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) Posted Sep 18, 2006 21:41 UTC (Mon) by emkey (guest, #144) [Link] Understood. Though it isn't hard to argue that the OSDL solution is no solution at all, meerly a resource that makes it somewhat easier for the creators of open source software to defend themselves. In other words it is a poor second to real legislative action that would actually deal with the underlying issues.
So rather then attacking it I'd be inclined to say, "Look at the lengths we are having to go to in order to somewhat blunt the very fundamental and serious problems that software patents are causing."
Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) Posted Sep 19, 2006 7:39 UTC (Tue) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link] One HUGE problem I see with OSDL's prior art database is the Patent Office's definition of "inventive and non-obvious".
Given that that definition seems to be "nobody has previously mentioned it in the literature" (which could well be because it's so obvious that no-one has bothered), that still leaves program version X.1 wide open to attack for minor upgrades even if X.0 is in the prior art database!
Actually, should we actually have a case like this, it might provided some hefty anti-patent ammunition ...
Cheers,
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