[Patents] patent pools enforcing per-copy-licensing mode of software development

[A +W Endres endres-sifi@t-online.de]

Hello, Mr. Garcia Fernandez,

   as my departure is delayed a bit, here a short answer:

Ram'on Garc'ia Fern'andez schrieb:

> Do you believe that a patent should be granted in exchange for any
> idea (method), or only when there is a costly research behind?

If the effort to achieve an invention is the only measure, only expensive and
non-effective
research and development will be honored.

> What is your opinion about trivial/easy patents? What measures would
> you suggest against them?

In Germany, we have a criterium called "Erfindungshöhe" (meaning significance
of
the invention). This is an important yardstick and requires professional
knowledge to
apply correctly. If not applied, we would indeed be flooded by trivial
patents..

> Often patented inventions are accidentaly reinvented and infringed.
> In those cases, patents are not helping the society at all: we
> would learn the invention anyway, perhaps some months later.
> What do you think about that?

If I violate a law that I did not know about, my ignorance is not accepted
by the courts as an accuse. For this reason, I have been arguing that all
juridical literature should be "public good" and free of charge. I have not
gotten much support yet. I am also asking that knowledge about patented
inventions should become a significant part of basic engineering education
(not just in software engineering). As you know, patents are extremely
well documented, easily accessible and freely useable for education and
research.

> According to Pilch you said:
>
> > True software engineering, he says, needs patents, and the hobbyists
> > should be sacrificed for that.
>
> Software patents began to be used in the US after 1982. (Before that date,
> they where occasional and very rarely enforced). The most important
> development of the software industry where before 1982. Facts apparently
> contradict your statement "True software engineering needs patents".

The best know German software patent was issued to F.L. Bauer and
his colleage Samelson in 1957. Bauer's name became later associated
with the term "software engineering". As I said in a previous note, I think
that the difference between science and engineering can be explained
by the difference between discoveries and inventions. To make the long
story short: If software development likes to become engineering, they
cannot be satisfied with discoveries (as the ones made by Pythogaras,
Mendel and Maxwell), but rather go for inventions (like Edison,
Marconi, etc). To demonstrate that one's inventions are "new, useful
and non-obvious" the seal of approval of a patent examiner can be
more helpful than the acceptence by a journal or a conference. I have
been an editor-in-chief of a jounal for 15 years and know how tempted
one can get if one needs to fill an issue. That is all, I have been saying.

One final remark for Bernard Lang: I appreciate and share his concern
for individual freedom. But if scary people demand that police be visible
in cities and on highways, this certainly limits the freedom of normal people
who want to draw money from banks and want to race on the German
Autobahn. Maybe the police catches some robbers or drunken drivers
also.

Cheers, Al