[Patents] Re: [Patents] Re: [Patents] Re: [Patents] brevets et logiciel libres (version elaboree)

[Gregory Aharonian srctran@world.std.com]

>Maybe instead of claiming that "many have been sued", we should point
>out that many American programmers *risk* being sued or are
>*threatened* with legal action.

First, it is rare that a programmer is sued, but rather his company
(either his, or the company he works for).  You sue someone to either
get them to stop, or to get money out of them, and most programmers
don't have much of the latter.

A common harassment for a company is to get a letter from a software
patent holder, not so much threatening to sue, but rather hinting at
it.  This typically requires the company to get a validity opinion
from their lawyers, which can easily cost $20,000 to $40,000.  A few
of these letters a year, usually over bad software patents, and that
can be a real financial drain for which the patent offices shirk any
responsibility.

Patent infringement lawsuits are very expensive, averaging a few
million dollars, so most programmers (but rather their companies)
have little to fear.

Greg Aharonian