Opposition to Broad/Software Patents Grows

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2008-10-03 14:31:06 UTC
Modified: 2008-10-03 14:31:06 UTC

The important fight against software patents has just gained another well-known figure: Bruce Perens.

Perens said in a recent interview that the current system makes it too easy for patent trolls to sue, even when their patents may be bogus.

We need to restore justice to the patent system, and we also need to take a good look at the motivation for software patents, which many economists and others feel do more to hurt innovation than to promote it.

Software patents were not created by Congress, but by courts, at the same time as business method patents. These are often very broadly drawn, and holders use their power to tax real innovation.

Some days ago we wrote about the negative economic effects of patents. Here is an old talk from David Martin, who predicted doom & gloom for the patents 'bubble'.

In the past we also wrote about Apple's role in harming Free software with its patents. This new post contains a reminder of the Apple threat.

The problem is patents. LLVM’s license allows more room for Apple to use software patents than the GCC’s licenses do. And Apple now has the opportunity to maneuver themselves into a place where through those patents they can dominate the software that can be run on their machines. Those bastards!

The sooner the world understands this patent trap it's irreversibly led to, the better. ⬆

Comments

Yuhong Bao

2008-11-01 05:27:21

On Apple and FOSS, that is another off-topic mess altogether dating back to when NeXT decided to develop a Obj-C front-end for GCC for the NeXTStep OS around 1990. On Apple's tying of hardware with software, when I heard that Psystar was going to use that as a challenge to the Apple vs Psystar lawsuit, I posted this blog article: http://yuhong386.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!57E2793D0C53276F!164.entry
Yuhong Bao

2008-11-01 05:28:38

BTW, here is an edit to one of the articles you quoted: "EDIT 8-24-08: Commenter Owen (see below) points out that LLVM’s license actually stipulates better guarantees about the use of patents than i originally thought. It’s quite possible that I misunderstood the discussion on Saturday, or that somebody there was misinformed about the LLVM’s license."

Girlfriends, Sex, Prostitution & Debian at DebConf22, Prizren, Kosovo: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Martina Ferrari & Debian, DebConf room list: who sleeps with who?: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Europe Won't be Safe From Russia Until the Last Windows PC is Turned Off (or Switched to BSDs and GNU/Linux): Lives are at stake
Links 23/04/2024: US Doubles Down on Patent Obviousness, North Korea Practices Nuclear Conflict: Links for the day
Stardust Nightclub Tragedy, Unlawful killing, Censorship & Debian Scapegoating: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 24/04/2024: Layoffs and Shutdowns at Microsoft, Apple Sales in China Have Collapsed: Links for the day
Sexism processing travel reimbursement: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Microsoft is Shutting Down Offices and Studios (Microsoft Layoffs Every Month This Year, Media Barely Mentions These): Microsoft shutting down more offices (there have been layoffs every month this year)
Balkan women & Debian sexism, WeBoob leaks: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Links 24/04/2024: Advances in TikTok Ban, Microsoft Lacks Security Incentives (It Profits From Breaches): Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/04/2024: People Returning to Gemlogs, Stateless Workstations: Links for the day
Meike Reichle & Debian Dating: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 23, 2024: IRC logs for Tuesday, April 23, 2024
[Meme] EPO: Breaking the Law as a Business Model: Total disregard for the EPO to sell more monopolies in Europe (to companies that are seldom European and in need of monopoly)
The EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) on New Ways of Working (NWoW) and “Bringing Teams Together” (BTT): The latest publication from the Central Staff Committee (CSC)
Volunteers wanted: Unknown Suspects team: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Debian trademark: where does the value come from?: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Detecting suspicious transactions in the Wikimedia grants process: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gunnar Wolf & Debian Modern Slavery punishments: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
On DebConf and Debian 'Bedroom Nepotism' (Connected to Canonical, Red Hat, and Google): Why the public must know suppressed facts (which women themselves are voicing concerns about; some men muzzle them to save face)
Several Years After Vista 11 Came Out Few People in Africa Use It, Its Relative Share Declines (People Delete It and Move to BSD/GNU/Linux?): These trends are worth discussing
Canonical, Ubuntu & Debian DebConf19 Diversity Girls email: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Links 23/04/2024: Escalations Around Poland, Microsoft Shares Dumped: Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/04/2024: Offline PSP Media Player and OpenBSD on ThinkPad: Links for the day
Amaya Rodrigo Sastre, Holger Levsen & Debian DebConf6 fight: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
DebConf8: who slept with who? Rooming list leaked: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Bruce Perens & Debian: swiping the Open Source trademark: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Ean Schuessler & Debian SPI OSI trademark disputes: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Windows in Sudan: From 99.15% to 2.12%: With conflict in Sudan, plus the occasional escalation/s, buying a laptop with Vista 11 isn't a high priority
Anatomy of a Cancel Mob Campaign: how they go about
[Meme] The 'Cancel Culture' and Its 'Hit List': organisers are being contacted by the 'cancel mob'
Richard Stallman's Next Public Talk is on Friday, 17:30 in Córdoba (Spain), FSF Cannot Mention It: Any attempt to marginalise founders isn't unprecedented as a strategy
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 22, 2024: IRC logs for Monday, April 22, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
Don't trust me. Trust the voters.: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Chris Lamb & Debian demanded Ubuntu censor my blog: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Ean Schuessler, Branden Robinson & Debian SPI accounting crisis: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
William Lee Irwin III, Michael Schultheiss & Debian, Oracle, Russian kernel scandal: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Microsoft's Windows Down to 8% in Afghanistan According to statCounter Data: in Vietnam Windows is at 8%, in Iraq 4.9%, Syria 3.7%, and Yemen 2.2%
[Meme] Only Criminals Would Want to Use Printers?: The EPO's war on paper
EPO: We and Microsoft Will Spy on Everything (No Physical Copies): The letter is dated last Thursday
Links 22/04/2024: Windows Getting Worse, Oligarch-Owned Media Attacking Assange Again: Links for the day
Links 21/04/2024: LINUX Unplugged and 'Screen Time' as the New Tobacco: Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/04/2024: Health Issues and Online Documentation: Links for the day
What Fake News or Botspew From Microsoft Looks Like... (Also: Techrights to Invest 500 Billion in Datacentres by 2050!): Sededin Dedovic (if that's a real name) does Microsoft stenography
Stefano Maffulli's (and Microsoft's) Openwashing Slant Initiative (OSI) Report Was Finalised a Few Months Ago, Revealing Only 3% of the Money Comes From Members/People: Microsoft's role remains prominent (for OSI to help the attack on the GPL and constantly engage in promotion of proprietary GitHub)
[Meme] Master Engineer, But Only They Can Say It: One can conclude that "inclusive language" is a community-hostile trolling campaign
[Meme] It Takes Three to Grant a Monopoly, Or... Injunction Against Staff Representatives: Quality control
[Video] EPO's "Heart of Staff Rep" Has a Heartless New Rant: The wordplay is just for fun
An Unfortunate Miscalculation Of Capital: Reprinted with permission from Andy Farnell
[Video] Online Brigade Demands That the Person Who Started GNU/Linux is Denied Public Speaking (and Why FSF Cannot Mention His Speeches): So basically the attack on RMS did not stop; even when he's ill with cancer the cancel culture will try to cancel him, preventing him from talking (or be heard) about what he started in 1983
Online Brigade Demands That the Person Who Made Nix Leaves Nix for Not Censoring People 'Enough': Trying to 'nix' the founder over alleged "safety" of so-called 'minorities'
[Video] Inauthentic Sites and Our Upcoming Publications: In the future, at least in the short term, we'll continue to highlight Debian issues
List of Debian Suicides & Accidents: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Jens Schmalzing & Debian: rooftop fall, inaccurately described as accident: Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Teaser] EPO Leaks About EPO Leaks: Yo dawg!
On Wednesday IBM Announces 'Results' (Partial; Bad Parts Offloaded Later) and Red Hat Has Layoffs Anniversary: There's still expectation that Red Hat will make more staff cuts
IBM: We Are No Longer Pro-Nazi (Not Anymore): Historically, IBM has had a nazi problem
Bad faith: attacking a volunteer at a time of grief, disrespect for the sanctity of human life: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Bad faith: how many Debian Developers really committed suicide?: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 21, 2024: IRC logs for Sunday, April 21, 2024
A History of Frivolous Filings and Heavy Drug Use: So the militant was psychotic due to copious amounts of marijuana
Bad faith: suicide, stigma and tarnishing: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
UDRP Legitimate interests: EU whistleblower directive, workplace health & safety concerns: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock

Opposition to Broad/Software Patents Grows

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts