-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
The Problem with Software Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| When we give broad protection like patents
| to software (or potentially music and
| books), we wall off via monopoly very large
| amounts of IP territory. This includes
| territory that the innovator never needed
| or perhaps intended to protect. Territory
| that doesnât matter in the least to
| extracting the value of the invention as it
| was originally conceived. Such accidental
| monopolies are not good for innovation and
| are just legal lottery tickets equivalent
| to ambulance chasing. This kind of
| protection should be eliminated as there is
| little evidence software patents are
| stimulating any kind of innovation
| whatsoever and lots of evidence it hinders
| innovation.
`----
http://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/17600/the-problem-with-software-patents/
Patents and Software
,----[ Quote ]
| For the first two decades that computers
| and software were being developed one could
| not obtain a patent on software. That
| began to change with a series of court
| cases in the 1980's. Among others, I do
| not consider those court decisions to have
| helped the software industry. Rather they
| have only served to slow down innovation.
| On this page I provide some of the content
| that has brought me to the conclusion that
| software patents are problematic.
`----
http://www.walkingwithelephants.com/walkingwithelephants:patentsandsoftware
Are Ubuntu users covered by H.264 license? It depends
,----[ Quote ]
| So, the situation that those purchasing
| Ubuntu-based machines find themselves in is
| that unless the system comes shipped with
| H.264 support, then itâs unlikely that the
| system is licensed, which technically means
| that adding that support later would be
| unlicensed.
|
| Itâs unlikely that the MPEG LA would come
| kicking your door down as a home user, but
| as a business user this puts you in an
| awkward position.
|
| Basically, the licensing is a mess.
`----
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/are-ubuntu-users-covered-by-h264-license-it-depends/8228
Microsoftâs Got Nothinâ â The Patent âWarâ Against Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| In the last three years, Microsoft claims
| to have entered into over 600 licensing
| agreements with companies small and large
| over alleged patent violations in "Linux".
| One consistent feature of all these
| agreements is that their contents are
| unknown. No one, other than Microsoft and
| the relevant "licensee", knows which parts
| of "Linux" violate which patents. Another
| consistent feature is that most of the
| "licensees" are small companies without the
| resources to take on Microsoft in a patent
| claim. However, there are a number of
| larger or more high profile companies that
| have also entered into such agreements,
| including Amazon, Novell, Xandros,
| Turbolinux, TomTom and most recently HTC.
| The whole situation is clouded in mystery
| under a veil of PR speak and mumbo jumbo.
| So what the hell is going on? What can we
| deduce from what we know so far?
|
| [...]
|
| Because all of the licensing deals are
| confidential, no one knows "what" in
| "Linux" infringes on Microsoftâs patents.
| By keeping the "what" confidential,
| Microsoft does not need to identify the
| patents it claims are infringed. This means
| that Linux users cannot investigate these
| patents and analyse their potential
| validity if challenged.
|
| [...]
|
| Obviously, this whole article is based on
| conjecture and speculation, however, it is
| an interesting analysis, which may point to
| a number of conclusions in relation to
| Microsoftâs recent patent enforcement
| activity. First, Microsoft is worried â not
| specifically about Linux per se, but about
| the shift of the computing world to new
| appliance-like devices and the cloud. Linux
| being just one player in this space.
| Secondly, the patent claims against âLinuxâ
| are in fact based on the vfat file system,
| and attacking âLinuxâ vendors and
| distributors is a convenient way to hit
| both embedded device manufacturers and
| Linux distributors at the same time.
| Thirdly, the patents that Microsoft claims
| to be infringed by Linux are probably not
| particularly robust, and/or where they are
| robust, they can be easily coded around.
`----
http://everydaylht.com/2010/05/05/microsofts-got-nothin-the-patent-war-against-linux/
Microsoft vs. Standards
http://www.pagetable.com/?p=333
Recent:
Are Apple's Open Source Theora Claims Patent FUD?
,----[ Quote ]
| Maxwell's comments aside, I know that I
| personally contacted Theora's handlers
| (Xiph.org) at multiple points on Friday
| about the alleged patent issue and did not
| receive the courtesy of any response from
| them. If Apple or other patent holder had a
| similiar experience, perhaps they have been
| contacted and Maxwell just doesn't know
| about it (yet).
|
| Frankly I'm not surprised that a patent pool
| is being assembled against Theora at this
| time. As a Theora user myself (Firefox 3.6
| !!) I've seen how good the codec is which
| makes it a potential threat to the patent
| holders. Good technology unfortunately
| always seems to be at risk from those who
| think that their intellectual property is
| being infringed upon.
|
| That said, I would hope that one of the
| various open source patent commons can step
| up and help out Theora with some defensive
| patents and/or legal assistance. The great
| thing about open source is that the code is
| open, so if someone does come forward and
| show a patent claim (legitimate or
| otherwise), there is always an opportunity
| to code around it.
`----
http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/2010/05/are-jobs-open-source-theora-cl.html
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkvo+2MACgkQU4xAY3RXLo5Z8gCePSCQDxWJiPZGcq6YaQJ80sDa
fw4An3ujx9m/icfimpz4lBbBRg4v3OQ8
=9QrB
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
