Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 23:25:23 -0700 From: "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com> To: <freebsd-chat@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: Software patents and FreeBSD Message-ID: <MDEHLPKNGKAHNMBLJOLKIEIJFEAB.davids@webmaster.com> In-Reply-To: <200507101736.22061.bryan.maynard@reallm.com>
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> On Sunday 10 July 2005 08:16 pm, Matthew D. Fuller wrote: > Thank you. I am against patents all together. . . :-D If there was no patent system, the same effect would be achieved by contracts and EULAs. The net effect would be the same as with patents, except that the terms would not be limited by law and there would not be as much public disclosure. > I am not, however, nieve enough to believe that the millions of > patents that handed out will ever be revoked. They will be. Each one is term-limited to at most 20 years from when it was filed. > My intention is to: "Stop the barbarians at the gate.". Patents > have been adopted in so many other industries that I do not want > to see them stifle innovation in IT. I am not a multi-national > conglomorate. I do not have deep pockets. I am just one man who > has a lot of (great) ideas. I am simply not able to pay for > patents to keep my "inventions" safe. I can, however, pick the > software license (CPL) that best suites my needs and use it - > free of charge. You don't have to pay for patents to keep your inventions safe. You only need to pay for a patent to prevent someone else from using your idea. If you make your idea public, nobody can patent it. > You are also write that software is no different than, say, a car > engine. . . > I am simply hoping that software does not suffer the same fate as > the auto industry: To bring a product to market is extremely > expensive. Patents have nothing to do with this. In fact, in the software industry, where we certainly have as many patents as any other industry, you can bring a product to market for almost nothing. > Right now software can be developed and distributed > free of charge. The day that ceases to be possible not only will > projects like FreeBSD dissapear, but so will my project. College > students and people needing a boost in their resumes will also be > SOL as they will not have projects like FreeBSD and thereallm to > contribute to and list on their resume. Since we have software patents and nothing even remotely like this has happened, why are you so down on software patents? > Thank you for honestly disecting my comments and providing > constructive critisism. I appreciate it. :-D > > And let me state for the record: I am, indeed, against patents in > general - and will fervently defend the ability for software to > be designed, developed, and distributed free of charge. I believe > free software to be the best sorce for innovation and creativity. How do you think patents prevent software from being designed, developed or distributed free of charge? They just mean that if you didn't think of an idea first, you may not be able to use it for 20 years. In exchange, anyone else who wants to protect their ideas has to disclose them to you, so the likelihood that good ideas will stay secret is lower. There are certainly problems with dumb patents being issued, but this is a really bad reason to prevent legitimate patents on legitimately new ideas from being issued. There are also problems with technically inept judges and money buying ridiculous legal decisions. But that's not a problem with patents per se, you'd see more of the same problems with EULAs and licensing agreements if patents weren't around. DS
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