[FYI] Surviving in a world full of software patents
<http://www.newsforge.com/print.pl?sid=04/07/19/2251254>
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Title Surviving in a world full of software patents
Date 2004.07.20 10:48
Author roblimo
Topic
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/07/19/2251254
To promote freedom in the marketplace open source developers need to
start patenting their inventions.
We have several reasons why patenting is now a requirement of last
resort:
1. Closed source companies are actively seeking to attack open
source through patents.
2. The cost of defending against a patent is enough break the bank
of even the largest open source projects.
3. Copyright is easily circumvented by creative programming.
4. It is the only logical way to counterattack.
Red Hat has in the past taken criticism for holding a defensive
patent portfolio. Likewise, IBM has been criticized for having the
largest patent portfolio in the world. At the heart of these
criticisms is a natural skepticism about patenting, particularly
software patenting. I agree completely with the pundits who say
patents are bad for the market but at this point I think Red Hat is
completely correct in their defensive patents policy. Patents are the
law. They are given away like candy to companies seeking mini-
monopolies on ideas. Even mini-monopolies are bound to abuse their
power by filing groundless lawsuits for the sake of the ever
important PROFIT motive.
If you are an open source developer you are probably less motivated
by profit (though certainly you want to be fed), and more motivated
by the hope of making the world a better place through cooperation.
This is a noble position, but don't be played for a fool. The lack of
a patent on your work gives free rein to people with PROFIT on their
minds who want to steal your inventions from you and use them for
their own gain instead of the gain of all. The next thing you know,
you will be facing patents based on something that incorporates ideas
that you pioneered.
While Richard Stallman is busy saying there should be no software
patents, we need a license that insures that the freedoms of the GPL
can be preserved while maintaining patents. It can be done -- and it
needs to happen soon.
This is a call for dialog. I don't presume that I am the one who
should create the license. I am also not answering the question of
who needs to pay for the patenting. I would suggest that it is best
done by a consortium -- preferably led by a vendor-neutral group such
as the OSDL -- that creates a fund and a committee to review patent
fund requests. Let's talk about it, though.
Should we really continue without an aggressive patent policy and
portfolio to protect our freedoms?
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