The patents

The patents

Posted Aug 8, 2003 5:39 UTC (Fri) by error27 (subscriber, #8346)
In reply to: The patents by sbergman27
Parent article: A brief look at IBM's counterclaims

So why these particular patents? From their vast portfolio, this is the best they could do?

Obviously that's the first thing anyone familiar with software patents will think. Why four and not hundreds?

It seems that these four were chosen because they cover SCO's entire product line.

I think another reason was these were chosen was to send a message. "Don't sue IBM if you work with computers because IBM owns the patent on everything including the start menu. Literally."

To programmers, the four patents probably seem stupid. Frankly the whole idea of software patents seems stupid and I personally believe that software patents are unconstitutional based on the first amendment. However, SCO has to take the patents seriously. Unfortunately for them if they can prove prior art for all four patents, IBM will simply find four more.

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