Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)
Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)
Posted Sep 18, 2006 21:29 UTC (Mon) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510)In reply to: Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge) by emkey
Parent article: Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)
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
Posted Sep 18, 2006 21:41 UTC (Mon)
by emkey (guest, #144)
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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."
Posted Sep 19, 2006 7:39 UTC (Tue)
by Wol (subscriber, #4433)
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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,
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.Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)
One HUGE problem I see with OSDL's prior art database is the Patent Office's definition of "inventive and non-obvious".Prior art won't solve the software patent problem (NewsForge)
Wol