Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on June 01, 2003 05:16 AM
see: http://perens.com/Articles/Patents.html
"Arguments for killing software and business-method patents abound. I'll list a few:
-If the existence of software and business system patents doesn't actually help to advance science and the useful arts, then they are constitutionally unjustified. Software patents are all on applications of an extremely versatile hardware device called a "computer". But then isn't the computer, not its software, the thing that should have been patented? -The 20-year term of software patents is generally much longer than the useful lifetime of the invention. This circumvents the constitutional requirement that patents have a limited term, because the invention is so obsolete as to be without any remaining value at all by the time it reaches the public domain. -The monopoly that business-method patents create on a particular form of business can constitute a violation of the anti-trust laws. -If other countries start accepting software and business method patents, they will in effect be creating a U.S.A. Tax paid by their own citizens. Those countries would just take all of the patent royalties paid by their own companies and send them to the U.S.A., where the software and business-method patent owners predominantly are today.
But the best argument for this essay is that software patents block Free Software development. Today, they are a nuisance, tomorrow they could be much more. There are companies that see Free Software, especially GNU/Linux, as an interloper to be shut down, a competitor to be eliminated. Some of these companies have increased the rate at which they file new patents. It's not impossible that these companies and their business partners could start going after Free Software developers, en masse, with patent infringement lawsuits. Since essentially none of us can afford to defend ourselves, most developers would be forced to cave in, withdraw their software, and stop participating in Free Software development. We must be ready with a defense, before that day comes".
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However, software patents are...
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 01, 2003 05:16 AMhttp://perens.com/Articles/Patents.html
"Arguments for killing software and business-method patents abound. I'll list a few:
-If the existence of software and business system patents doesn't actually help to advance science and the useful arts, then they are constitutionally unjustified.
Software patents are all on applications of an extremely versatile hardware device called a "computer". But then isn't the computer, not its software, the thing that should have been patented?
-The 20-year term of software patents is generally much longer than the useful lifetime of the invention. This circumvents the constitutional requirement that patents have a limited term, because the invention is so obsolete as to be without any remaining value at all by the time it reaches the public domain.
-The monopoly that business-method patents create on a particular form of business can constitute a violation of the anti-trust laws.
-If other countries start accepting software and business method patents, they will in effect be creating a U.S.A. Tax paid by their own citizens. Those countries would just take all of the patent royalties paid by their own companies and send them to the U.S.A., where the software and business-method patent owners predominantly are today.
But the best argument for this essay is that software patents block Free Software development. Today, they are a nuisance, tomorrow they could be much more. There are companies that see Free Software, especially GNU/Linux, as an interloper to be shut down, a competitor to be eliminated. Some of these companies have increased the rate at which they file new patents. It's not impossible that these companies and their business partners could start going after Free Software developers, en masse, with patent infringement lawsuits. Since essentially none of us can afford to defend ourselves, most developers would be forced to cave in, withdraw their software, and stop participating in Free Software development. We must be ready with a defense, before that day comes".
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