[Patents] Source-Only Patent Infringement under US Law?

[Ashley Yakeley AshleyB@halcyon.com]

An American question.

Under US law, can a software patent be infringed by providing source code?

Supposing I look up the MP3 patent, and write an MP3 encoder. I publish 
the source code and a make-file, but no compiled code, on my web-site. 
Under US law, have I infringed the MP3 patent?

What if I write it in a language like Perl, which can be run by the user 
without an explicit intermediate compile step?

I note that a recent court case struck down export restrictions on 
encryption source code, on the grounds that the law restricted free 
speech. Does this help?


-- 
Ashley Yakeley, Seattle WA