[Osia-discuss] Re: [Linux-aus] Re: Hooks to the AU patent process

[Con Zymaris]

On Fri, Aug 06, 2004 at 12:00:39PM +1000, Jonathan Oxer wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-08-04 at 14:01, pia at linux.org.au wrote:
> > Arjen Lentz writes: 
> > >> Another thought in the same "playing them at their own game" theme: 
> > >> why not file for patents protecting open source software?  I don't 
> > >> think that the author of a patent application has to be the owner of 
> ...
> > We will never be able to accumulate enough patents to be truly safe, we 
> > don't have the money or the resources, and some of these companies have 
> 
> True, but IMHO every little bit helps. It's not practical as a total
> solution to the problem but if we attack it from lots of different
> angles maybe collectively we can make a difference.
> 
> So I've drafted up a few provisional patent applications related to some
> of the Open Source work I've done, and I'll submit them to IP Australia
> through my company. They only cost about $80 each to submit, and they
> may play some small part in throwing a spanner in the works of an Evil
> Bigco at some point.

Owning patents without an effective legal offensive capability is pretty
close to useless. 

Hoping that you can scare big vendors who may try to damage the open
source industry by owning patents that they themselves tresspass, wont
work. You need serious legal firepower to take those guys on. Most
Australian developers and SMEs don't have that firepower.


-- 
Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
Web: http://www.cyber.com.au/  Phone: 03 9621 2377   Fax: 03 9621 2477