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

[Ram'on Garc'ia Fern'andez ramon@jl1.quim.ucm.es]

On Mon, Jan 01, 2001 at 05:27:29PM -0500, Gregory Aharonian wrote:
> Ramon writes:
> >Patent fees are so expensive that no independent programmer can afford
> >filing patents.  Open source is no exception.
> 
> Another false statement of patent application strategy.  In the US,
> an independent programmer can file a provisional patent application
> for $75.  He or she then has one year to file a formal patent
> application (with the much higher fees that everyone dreads).

This is useless with open source. If your software is opensource,
anyone can use your ideas. In fact, by making the software open
source, the developer is encouraging competition and cannot do
anything to prevent it. Anyone can take his software and charge
for it offering better support. The advantadge of open source is
that the customer is warranted a competitive price and service.
It contradicts the letter and the spirit of patents.

On the other hand, I am finally learning why Greg supports so much
software patents. Greg believes in the "build-a-better-mousetrap"
belief, that is, you have a good idea, and then you become rich. This
is a wrong view of the software industry.  See the essay "Converting
capital into software that works"
"http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$17";
(quoted in the report by Joaquin Seoane and me).

Ramon