[Patents] Threats to developers

[Edward Avis epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk]

>From: Gregory Aharonian <srctran@world.std.com>

>>That is why I am all riled up against software patents.  It feel as if
>>the system holds a gun to my head with every piece of code I write.
>
>Unless the code you are writing is going to be worth lots and lots of 
>money, no one with a software patent is ever going to pay the slightest
>bit of attention to the code you are writing.  You paranoia is greatly
>exaggerated.

<http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue66/news-sue.html>:

>On the subject of Lucent Technologies, whose aggressive "East Coast"
>style is becoming notorious in the Valley, he says, "They're incredibly
>aggressive in enforcing their Bell Labs patent portfolio as a profit
>center. They're regarded in the Valley as extortionist," he says.
>"Lucent's basic approach is to say, 'We're Bell Labs, and we have
>hundreds of thousands of patents, and we're sure that one of them must
>affect you and you must have infringed upon it. We'll give you a
>blanket license for all our patents for a limited period of time for a
>large amount of money, and if you don't pay, we'll sue you until the
>cows come home and you'll never see your children again.' There's no
>interest in any kind of strategic relationship. They're there to shake
>you down for as much cash as they can get."  Lucent officials declined
>to comment.

Another example would be the patent on XOR screen drawing (which expired
several years ago).  Computer makers really did have to pay protection
money for using this new, ground-breaking 'innovation'.

This is the biggest problem with software patents - a program combines
lots of existing ideas, the hard part is combining the ideas in a new
way.  There are thousands of software patents out there in the US and it
is impossible to write any program without infringing on some of
them.  Surely if something is entirely your own work, you should be free
to use and distribute it without the risk of being sued by a company
which managed to get a patent on ideas themselves.

-- 
Ed Avis
epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk