[Linux-aus] FOSS patent infringements

[Andrew Pam]

Paul Wayper wrote:
> The second is that the patent is now on public record and, after the
> inventor has made their money out of it and its time has expired,
> everyone can use it.  This is just the 'standing on the shoulders of
> giants' thing.  To me, this is the key reason why patents are useful -
> so that you have a public record of ideas that can be used and improved
> on that builds up over time.

This of course is one of the compelling arguments against software 
patents.  There is little evidence that software patents are ever used 
this way, because:

1. Software developers are encouraged not to read patents

2. Software patents are rarely written to be comprehensible to software 
developers

3. The methods in many software patents were already well known to 
developers at the time of issuing, so there's nothing new to be learned 
by reading them and the patent shouldn't even have been granted

4. By the time software patents have expired, the industry has moved on 
so far that they are barely applicable to the contemporary environment

5. Software patents that are actually valid and relevant are a strong 
incentive to FOSS developers to develop a free alternative, so by the 
time the patent expires it is irrelevant due to the widespread adoption 
of the free alternative

Regards,
	Andrew