Red Hat CEO decries software patents

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Why software patents are a good thing.

The reality is that Microsoft cannot afford to pursue legal recourse on their patents. The ability of the Open Source community to work around Microsoft's patents would leave them holding an empty threat. That is the reason that they have not specifically identified any of the infringing patents.

But I would like to also defend the use of the patents. Although software copyrighting used to protect the software developer, the changes in copyright law have made that ineffective for providing protection. More importantly the changes in copyright law have removed the true value that the copyright had and that the patents now uphold.

Formerly to obtain a copyright you would have to register a copy of the body of work. With a registered copy of the work, the body of the core algorithms were exposed. Those algorithms would improve the public commons by allowing others to learn.

The U.S. patent office refers to the text of referenced patents as "teachings." The best thing about Open Source is that it represents a very large body of code that can be used for teaching. However, without the patent system in place, it is unlikely that Microsoft would EVER reveal any details about its "trade secrets" for how they manage 42 key algorithms in an operating system, 65 techniques on how windows and menus look, 45 innovations in Office applications and 68 more inventions in other applications.

As a result of the patent system, we have the teachings of the technology that can be bought by one of the largest R&D software budgets in the world. Don't get me wrong, I'm neither a fan nor critic of Microsoft, but I am a big fan of insuring that innovations are not hidden behind "trade secrets" that would never see the light of day.

Robert E. Novak - holder of 14 U.S. patents

Posted by: Robert.Novak@...   Posted on: 05/22/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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