That's not how patents work [LWN.net]

That's not how patents work

Posted May 14, 2007 16:34 UTC (Mon) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: That's not how patents work by man_ls
Parent article: Microsoft takes on the free world (CNN)

It does make sense that two guys can independently and simultaneously invent something. But when some "invention" is done in passing and second "independent inventor" does not even realize it's "invention"... this cast the doubt on the quality of said patent. Big time. It does not mean that the patent if bogus, but it certainly looks strange...

After all patent must be novel and non-obvious. If someone invented the thing and not even realized that it's worth something... how can it be non-obvious ? Are all Linux developers geniuses ?

(Log in to post comments)

That's not how patents work

Posted May 14, 2007 16:45 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

Good point. However, I'm not sure the argument would fly too far before it is shot down... After all, Linux developers (Torvalds, famously) are known for being geniuses, releasing code freely, ideologically being against software patents, supporting copyleft, and being raving communists... erm, this last part is bogus ;)

In short, GNU/Linux developers (kernel+userspace) will be pictured as giving their work away and being against the holy Intellectual Property trinity (copyright, patents and trade marks), even if it is not exactly true. So nobody will be surprised that they do not patent their inventions.