[FYI] Surviving in a world full of software patents

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

<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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