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03.01.10

Software Patents Kill Another Program for Linux (Android)

Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Patents at 10:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

City State City Caller ID

Summary: The wonders of “innovation” show their ever-so-wonderful benefit to society yet again (the application above died from software patents)

LAST year we wrote about a GIMP plug-in that had died after intimidation from a software patent holder. Now we learn that City Caller ID is declared dead shortly after its arrival.

I don’t have the time or money to license this technology and use it from Cequint.

Watch the the company’s Web site. It seems like the company’s only ‘product’ is a patent on caller ID. Shame on the patent system and shame on Google (the Android company) for supporting software patents.

Mike Masnick, who stresses that patent holders needn’t even file lawsuits, is also saying that those parasites from Cequint are responsible for destroying innovation rather than promoting any:

Guy Who Makes Simple Caller ID App For Android Forced To Shut Down Due To Patent Threat

[...]

Seriously, can any patent supporter explain with a straight face how patents like this promote progress? What kind of incentive does a patent create in this case? Can you honestly claim that this kind of monopoly was necessary to “invent” a way to match a phone number to a city?

Help abolish software patents today. They are ruining the digital world that our lives depend on. █

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2 Comments

  1. Needs Sunlight said,

    March 1, 2010 at 10:30 am

    Gravatar

    It looks like the GIMP Mosaic plug-in is hosted in Europe. In that case, it’s not covered by software patents and should be put back up. Though if he’s obeying letters from random strangers, I ought to get in on the act and send him an invoice or two to see if he pays… :P

  2. uberVU - social comments said,

    March 1, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by schestowitz: Software Patents Kill Another Program for #Linux ( #Android ) http://ur1.ca/nzuo #swpat #Cequint #parasite #uspto…

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