From marmalade@libertysurf.co.uk  Thu Dec 14 13:43:55 2000
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 13:43:55 -0000
From: Nick F. marmalade@libertysurf.co.uk
Subject: [Patents] Re. Prior Use

> > Software patents make it necessary to sell a patent licence to every user
> > of a program.
> 
> On what basis do you reach this conclusion?  (I'm not arguing - I've
> just never come across this proposition before.)
> 

For example, in the case of the GIF/LZW compression
patent, a proportion of the  revenue from the sale of, 
(for example), Paint Shop Pro goes towards paying the
patent holder. (Some free versions of Paint Shop Pro
do not include GIF support for this reason).
So you see, anyone who uses GIF images should (in theory)
pay a royalty to Unisys for the use of that technology.

The more software patents there are, the more expensive
good software becomes.... If all graphics packages had to
pay a dollar per patented 'feature', then relatively cheap, 
feature rich software such as Paint Shop Pro, etc.. would
cost well over 400 dollars .. just on patent licence payments
alone.

Tell me again why software patents are good for economic growth  ? ;-)

Regards,

Nick.F.







