Re: patent sharks against critics

[Hartmut Pilch <phm@a2e.de>]

> > Europe Shareware received a letter from law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist 
> > where they ask them to buy a license for the US 4,698,672 patent of 
> > Compression Labs (the JPEG patent).
> 
> Hum... this is something I'm not sure I understand...
> 
> If I buy a (commercial) software (regardless of proprietary vs. free
> issues please) and that software enables me to generate JPEG images (or
> MPEG movies or anything covered by a patent... ); do I, as a USER and a
> legitimate customer of the company still have get a license for the
> patent?

Yes.
Patents are about use.
A user must make sure that his supplier takes the responsibility for all 
claims.
This can be done through a standard contract.
Europe Shareware presumably offers such a contract to shareware users and 
thereby assumes responsibility for patent infringments.
They might either act as a clearing house for patent liabilities or pass 
the responsibility on to the shareware authors.  
In both cases the burden is very high.
It is probably enterpreneurially irresponsible to continue going on doing
business under these circumstances.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-18979927
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
320,000 votes 2000 firms against software patents    http://noepatents.org/