Stallman unbending on software patents

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Right target: software patents in general

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Sorry, but the anti-patent retaliation clause will not hit the real problem causers, because the worst patent pirates are firms of lawyers who buy up old patents and then sue with them. They never develop anything themselves, so the proposed sanction has no teeth.
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This is an excellent point, but the GPL's terms are, probably, the best they can do with the laws that exist. Moreover, there is the potential for FOSS to become pervasive enough to make even the patent sharks pause before filing lawsuits - at least long enough to make sure they don't use *any* FOSS at all.

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However, a company may have a legitimate patent on technology that was never meant to be put into OSS. This rule says they have to give it up to a pirate who grabbed it and slapped GPL on it, or cancel any GPL development they may be doing.
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This begs the question on whether or not there *is* such a thing as a "legitimate" software patent! (;>) Moreover, the statement includes a built-in assumption that anybody using somebody else's software patent is a "pirate," which I also contest. Nevertheless ...

Remember, the patent retaliation clause is *optional.* Not all GPL3 software will contain it. If a software company wants to develop GPL3 software and also patent proprietary software and collect royalties for it they will, indeed, have to tread carefully, avoiding GPL3 software with a software patent retaliation clause.

However, if they decide that they just want to make good software, both GPL3 and proprietary, and get paid for that, they can simply make a choice to write off any potential software patent revenue and continue doing business. They can still file patents for defensive purposes, of course.

Posted by: FamilyManFirst   Posted on: 01/18/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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