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Worthless without compulsary licensing
"The process of BUYING a license to a patent"

Two problems: There's no regulation on the purchase of a license, so whether a patent is used to block competition or extract a license is entirely up to a patent holder.

Second problem is there's no regulation of the terms of license, so MS has a bad habit of "give up the right to enforce your patents against us", rending any patents you hold worthless, since any idea in there MS can just nick for itself.

The quality of the patents in software is poor too, look at how many are rendered worthless under challenge in the USA. Without being able to determine if the idea works, or has prior art the patent issuing and challenging the is just a lottery, a game for lawyers nothing to do with technology.

In addition in the real world you can work around a patent, if 2 machines don't talk together, you can stick a conveyor belt between them. In software there is *zero* tollerance for differences in spec. So patent a key interface and you can kill a whole class of software.

I'd like to see compulsary licensing of patents under reasonable terms in patent law too, but I don't see how it fixes the problem special to software: Inability to determine prior art and pure algos essentially just pure mathematics.
Posted by: Nigel Johnstone   Posted on: 02/02/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Thank you Bruce  Roger Ramjet | 02/02/05
Cost of litigation  BrucePerens | 02/02/05
Keep Pluggin away  Roger Ramjet | 02/02/05
Very Well Said  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
The open-source patent conundrum  Loverock Davidson | 02/02/05
So, you do not have a problem ...  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Bruce, you are wrong. It's just that simple.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Simple answer, Don.  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Prove it  quietLee | 02/02/05
You missed the point  voska | 02/02/05
New here, aren't you?  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
No, that is called slander. Tread carefully...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Slander? On the internet? Say it ain't so!!!!11one one!  theding0 | 02/02/05
Isn't slander what you say?  voska | 02/02/05
Slander=spoken  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
It can be.  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
Pot, kettle  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
LOL!  CobraA1 | 02/02/05
I'd like to recall the many times you've called other people "thief"  hipparchus2000 | 02/02/05
Never happened.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
RE: I'd like to recall the many times you've called other people "thief"  richdave | 02/05/05
Slander is a spoken defamation.  B.O.F.H. | 02/03/05
Worthless without compulsary licensing  Nigel Johnstone | 02/02/05
Pure mathematics?  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
Numerical Recipes in C  Nigel Johnstone | 02/02/05
Not all algos are math, then.  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
Yes, as a matter of fact they are.  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
For those interested, Google defines an Algo  voska | 02/02/05
Software patents are bad  voska | 02/02/05
Homework  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Additional  seosamh_z | 02/02/05
Solution  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Mathematics  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Right  seosamh_z | 02/02/05
OK, you first  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
So much for respecting opinion.  seosamh_z | 02/02/05
So the seller approves and the buyer rejects?  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
That's one point  seosamh_z | 02/02/05
Why "of course"?  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
Obvious Vs Inventive  seosamh_z | 02/02/05
Fix BEFORE expanding  Robert Crocker | 02/03/05
Problem is....  rgafron@... | 02/02/05
Problem is... Imaginary what if's.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
No, actually...  Jeff Spicoli | 02/02/05
Laziness will not pay off  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Not at all...  rgafron@... | 02/02/05
You are VERY fortunate ...  George Mitchell | 02/02/05
Fortuante? No, I understand my business.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Under the radar  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Fantastic Point!  Jeff Spicoli | 02/02/05
Not at all...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/03/05
So, again, tell us  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/03/05
In a word, yes. (nt)  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/06/05
Good discussion of current realities.  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
Word games  Nigel Johnstone | 02/02/05
Scrabble's good.  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
The luddite is the one who refers to 90s business models  hipparchus2000 | 02/02/05
Closed eyes  Anton Philidor | 02/03/05
Problems with patenting software  maxo_z | 02/02/05
Patents are good  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Patents are bad, unless you are a BIG company.  Judas I. | 02/02/05
reply  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Reply to your reply  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Gee, they seem to work fine for me...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Gee, how much did you pay ...  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Actaully, the loser paid.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Havin' trouble with the question, Axey?  Judas I. | 02/03/05
Q: If you eliminate software patents  Roger Ramjet | 02/02/05
You're too late  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
taking the idea of a patent as "property" beyond its usefulness to society  hipparchus2000 | 02/02/05
I'm no fan of patents  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 02/02/05
You Answered Your Own Question  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
True  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 02/02/05
Metamorphosis  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Agreed somewhat  seosamh_z | 02/02/05
The patent minefield  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 02/02/05
Ummm John..  Jeff Spicoli | 02/02/05
What you missed  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 02/02/05
Software patent?  IT_User | 02/02/05
IP Patents Are Taxes On Ideas  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
Look at it differently  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Thomas Jefferson  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Knowledge is valueable  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Uncreative, yup.  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
That's a GOOD one, Yagotta!  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Out of Context  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Evolution works in concert with ...  Judas I. | 02/02/05
An idea doesn't grow crops...  Anton Philidor | 02/02/05
Ask Monsato  osreinstall | 02/02/05
No I wouldn't  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
OK, that's it  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Try again  osreinstall | 02/02/05
You didn't counter my point  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
Reply  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Return  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
Don Rupert provides NO proof-just conjecture  USCG_z | 02/02/05
Who is Don Rupert? - NT  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Don Rupert  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Nope  osreinstall | 02/02/05
So, you gotta have a wallet to vote?  Judas I. | 02/02/05
It helps  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Rich guy talk.  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Owning ideas is patently (pun intended) silly!  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
Post Hoc Ergo Procter Hoc  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
Germany had patents  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Now THATS hilarious: "Germany had patents..."  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Another off topic  osreinstall | 02/02/05
Germany  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
If  Mack DaNife | 02/03/05
Who elected YOU the Topic Cop, osreinstall?  Judas I. | 02/03/05
re tires  osreinstall | 02/03/05
re cop  osreinstall | 02/03/05
re re Cop and Reading History  Judas I. | 02/03/05
Your Reaching  osreinstall | 02/03/05
I'm reaching? YOU'RE weaseling.  Judas I. | 02/03/05
flawed logic  osreinstall | 02/03/05
Wacko Logic  Judas I. | 02/03/05
maximus redirection  osreinstall | 02/03/05
You shoulld write for ...  Judas I. | 02/04/05
Incapable of stay on topic  osreinstall | 02/04/05
Still wanna play, eh, osreinstall?  Judas I. | 02/04/05
Actually.....  Stewart Cannon | 02/02/05
Excellent post  Anti_Zealot | 02/02/05
Hardly  osreinstall | 02/02/05
What do you know of science?  Anti_Zealot | 02/03/05
Blinded by science  osreinstall | 02/03/05
Nothing stops you from profiting off your idea  voska | 02/02/05
It won't end there other trades will try.  osreinstall | 02/02/05
the whole software patent system needs to be scraped and redone  liskanich | 02/02/05
Here is how to fix software/IP patents: get rid of them!  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
Continue to rely largely on Copyright!  P. Douglas | 02/02/05
Are you still beating theat USELESS drum?  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Bumblebees can't fly  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/02/05
NOW I'm gonna quote YOU, Axey:  Judas I. | 02/02/05
Patents, not copyright...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/02/05
Looks like WE'RE moving too fast for YOU, Axey.  Judas I. | 02/03/05
there you go putting "business" over the fate of the country / human race  hipparchus2000 | 02/02/05
Business IS the fate humanity.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/03/05
That's not a logical argument . . . (nt)  CobraA1 | 02/03/05
well right now we're heading towards global thermal runaway, temp=100 degC+  hipparchus2000 | 02/03/05
Proven? Where? (nt)  CobraA1 | 02/03/05
Technology and money. These are the two  bjbrock | 02/03/05
test - ignore  Real World | 04/01/05

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