Transcript: Andrew Tridgell on Patent Defence

I've put up a transcript of Andrew Tridgell's LCA talk.  In summary, he says
reading patents is usually a good idea, describes the right way to to read a
patent, and how to work through it with a lawyer to build a solid defence.
For the free software community, he also suggests how cooperation could help
scare off patent holders.

http://news.swpat.org/2010/03/transcript-tridgell-patents/

Excerpts:

On the fear of triple damages:

  If you've got one lot of damages for patent infringement, what would
  happen to the project? It's dead. If it gets three lots of damages for
  patent infringement, what happens to the project? It's still dead. [...]
  So in that case, do you walk blindly across the minefield in the hope that
  the blindfold will protect you from the shrapnel, or do you actually take
  it off and have a look and step around the mines? I propose that for most
  FOSS projects, stepping around the mines is the right way to go.

On the right way to fight a patent:

  That first type of defence is really the one you want, it's called:
  non-infringement. And that is: "we don't do that. The patent says X, we
  don't do X, therefore go away, sue someone else, it's not relevant for
  us". That's the defence you want. [...]  Next one, prior art: [...]
  Basically the argument is: somebody else did that before. It's a very,
  very tricky argument to get right. Extremely tricky, and it is the most
  common argument bandied about in the free software community. And if you
  see it in the primary defence against a patent, you should cringe because
  it is an extremely unsafe way of doing things.


-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan, +32 487 64 17 54, http://ciaran.compsoc.com

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