Selected Quotes: Why Software Patents Must Not Exist
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2007-05-15 03:54:03 UTC
- Modified: 2007-05-15 04:36:27 UTC
"
Well, every large program infringes lots of patents.
Microsoft has lots of patents. Most large programs, I would expect, infringe
some Microsoft patents. This just goes to show why software patents
shouldn't exist."
--- Richard Stallman,
in a very recent interview
"
The number [of patents] we found, to anyone familiar with this issue, is so average as to be boring; almost any piece of software potentially infringes at least that many patents. The point of the study was actually to eliminate the FUD about Linux's alleged legal problems by attaching a quantifiable measure versus the speculation."
---Dan Ravicher, an attorney and
executive director of PUBPAT (the Public
Patent Foundation),
in a this new article
Comments
gpl1
2007-05-15 04:52:48
“If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete stand-still today. The solution … is patent exchanges … and patenting as much as we can… . A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high: Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors.” Fred Warshofsky, The Patent Wars 170-71 (NY: Wiley 1994).
Roy Schestowitz
2007-05-15 05:12:08
,----[ Quote ] | A report published by an EU task force on intellectual property claims | that small businesses benefit from a patent system, despite lacking | almost any participation by the small business community. | | Instead, the report, titled IPR (intellectual property rights) for | competitiveness and innovation, was written up almost entirely by | large corporations and the patent industry. | | [...] | | The report does note objections from the likes of patentfrei.de and | Sun Microsystems, which were recorded at some length in the report. | But this does not appear to have impacted the conclusion of the | report in any way | | [...] | | Jean-Pierre Laisne, of ObjectWeb, an open source software community, | said that he found the report useless: participants were told that | all their contributions would be recorded but at the end only | those of Business Software Alliance and Microsoft were used. `----
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/99155/big-businesses-boast-of-patent-benefits-for-small-businesses.html
Also notice the absence of small businesses in the following item:
Commerce Secretary names Schramm to innovation panel
,----[ Quote ] | He will be part of a lineup that includes the Microsoft Corp. CEO | Steve Ballmer, 3M CEO George Buckley, UPS Chairman and CEO Michael Eskew, | IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano and Wal-Mart Stores Vice Chairman John | Menzer. `----
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/061206/1386414.html?.v=2
Bill Murry
2007-08-05 18:13:08