[Patents] the burden factor in soft vs hard

[Luuk van Dijk Luuk.van.Dijk@xs4all.nl]

Gregory Aharonian wrote:
> 
> Luuk fantasizes:
> >The difference is that in sw, the information = the product.  In these
> >other industries, there are still production lines to be set up to
> >etch the wafers/assemble the DNA/copy the whatevers.
> 
> Wrong, at least here in the US.  For example, designers of hardware
> circuits and systems (coded in VHDL etc.) earn about $500,000,000 a
> years selling their designs to companies that make the actual
> hardware.  That is $500,000,000/year in license fees (some patented,
> some kept as trade secrets) where the information = the product.
> Similarly with people who sell knowledge about DNA sequences.  Sure,
> at some point something physical is produced, but in the middle stages
> in these non-software industries, all that is being exchanged (for
> sale, some protected by patents) is information.
> 
> Greg Aharonian

I'll admit that I hadn't thought of that, but I don't think it
changes the argument much because those licence fees are ultimately
part of the price of the physical thing.

I do understand now why you don't want to recognize the difference
between sw and hw pats.  We'll think about it for a while.

I still do not understand why plain copyright would not be 
sufficient protection for these exchanged designs in the 
middle stages, though.

Luuk
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Mind over Matter         Mind.over.Matter@xs4all.nl
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