Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on September 20, 2006 12:30 PM
"The same argument could be made for all intellectual property."
No, it could not.
If I happen to write some text that is substantially the same as some text you wrote, and I had no way of knowing what you wrote, I am OK.
With patents, this is not true.
If I want to check if I am infringing wrt material I am using, I simply find the origin of that material and check the license. If I am the origin of the material, the search is a no-op.
With patents this is not true.
Forget the cost of challenging an absurd patent, the biggest problem with software patents is the cost of researching whether your software does anything that has been patented.
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Posted by: Anonymous Coward on September 20, 2006 12:30 PMNo, it could not.
If I happen to write some text that is substantially the same as some text you wrote, and I had no way of knowing what you wrote, I am OK.
With patents, this is not true.
If I want to check if I am infringing wrt material I am using, I simply find the origin of that material and check the license. If I am the origin of the material, the search is a no-op.
With patents this is not true.
Forget the cost of challenging an absurd patent, the biggest problem with software patents is the cost of researching whether your software does anything that has been patented.
Get back to me when you have solved that one.
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