12.03.16

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Blockchain Domain Infested With Software Patents, MasterCard Among the Culprits

Posted in Free/Libre Software, Patents at 12:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

MasterCard
Part of the duopoly (with Visa)

Summary: Worrying signs that an area of Free/Open Source software innovation is getting impacted by the plague of software patents

EARLIER this year we alluded to Blockchain patents in relation to a sham promise from a company with no patents. It ought to be be widely known — as it certainly is widely recognised among people in the profession — that software patents on financial stuff are the least likely to survive in courts (irrespective of what USPTO examiners do).

And yes, according to this new article, “MasterCard (MA) Files for Blockchain Patents” (!).

A new article from Fortune (published yesterday) is titled “Are Blockchain Patents a Bad Idea?”

Consider whose interests Fortune is serving.

“Remember the connection of Blockchain to Bitcoin, Free/Open Source software, GNU/Linux, and the Linux Foundation. A lot of those are inherently not compatible with patents.”Truly troubling.

Remember the connection of Blockchain to Bitcoin, Free/Open Source software, GNU/Linux, and the Linux Foundation. A lot of those are inherently not compatible with patents.

Earlier today Sam Dean published the article “Will Patent Wars Bog Down the Blockchain Movement?”

Well, they can certainly cause a lot of damage. Other news about Blockchain today is optimistic about business prospects of Blockchain, but what happens if over the next year or two the most news we hear about Blockchain and hyper-ledgers relates to patents? As we noted here before, even Goldman Sachs dives into this gold rush of patents in this particular area.

Software patents need to end, but while the US cracks down of them they appear to have already spread to China, as we shall show later in the weekend. █

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