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The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

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I came to this conclusion nearly ten years ago | 354 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
What a fine piece of work! Thanks!
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, November 24 2012 @ 10:10 AM EST
I have to agree. This is very plainly addresses the two diverging views, and (I hope) will at least let both "sides" understand how the other "side" is thinking, at least to a degree.

My Thanks to Tkilgore!!!

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Oooops... - Authored by: lnuss on Saturday, November 24 2012 @ 10:11 AM EST
Seconded, but I put it down, half finished.
Authored by: Ian Al on Saturday, November 24 2012 @ 12:05 PM EST
It is a great bit of reporting and it shows a great understanding of the issues,
as well. Thank you for expending your time and skill on the conference.

I am beginning to see logical threads and must let the report mature in my mind,
part by part.

I think half the audience were ready to shout you down if you had been given the
opportunity to put your question. I don't think you should be too concerned
about the lack of opportunity. Your report made it clear that all the discussion
from Groklaw is already out there and starting to germinate. I know that we will
fill out the blanks for them.

We have a pernicious exotic weed in the UK, commonly called Japanese Knotweed.
It sends out rhizomes from a node about two feet down which then form new
shooting nodes. It dies back each winter and grows up to eight feet tall, each
year. It looks fabulous and the authorities must be notified, by law, whenever
it is found. It spreads rapidly and will break apart walls, concrete and rocks
in its determination to spread.

I spent five years digging down and getting the roots out with a crowbar and a
hatchet, followed by biannual doses of a strong herbicide.

I think I can see the small shoots of a similar weed breaking up the software
patent concrete. Neither troll, nor poison dwarf, will be able to stop it.

---
Regards
Ian Al
Software Patents: It's the disclosed functions in the patent, stupid!

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Agreed. Bravo!
Authored by: OpenSourceFTW on Saturday, November 24 2012 @ 02:00 PM EST
Excellent work with an interesting and insightful read.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Thank you very much!
Authored by: PolR on Saturday, November 24 2012 @ 05:55 PM EST
This is an informative report. I appreciate a lot.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

What a fine piece of work!
Authored by: UncleVom on Saturday, November 24 2012 @ 07:15 PM EST
Yes very well presented.

I started to feel a level of frustration that echos what it must have been like
to be there.

RMS seems to have a complete handle on the situation and the straight forward
solution, although implementing it would have to battle the tidal waves coming
from people who have invested their money and futures in various forms of
software patent collections and their litigation.

Sadly those same people seem to have the money to also bend the ears of the
powers that be.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Truth vs. money - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, November 25 2012 @ 07:48 AM EST
    • Truth vs. money - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, November 25 2012 @ 05:45 PM EST
Like being there
Authored by: kg on Sunday, November 25 2012 @ 06:58 PM EST
I agree wholeheartedly. An excellent read that made the
readers feel like they were present. The thoughtful
commentary was also helpful.

The disconnect between the legal professionals and
programmers/mathematicians really came out well. While I
don't always agree with everything Stallman says, his
contributions to the discussion were very important.
Particularly his description of the distinction between
hardware and software.

Software should naturally be covered by copyright, which
would actually offer much better long-term protection under
the current system than patents.

Mark Lemly's comment about patenting the problem rather than
a particular implementation is telling.

---
IANAL
Linguist and Open Source Developer

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

I came to this conclusion nearly ten years ago
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, November 26 2012 @ 05:28 AM EST

And everyone, including PJ, has been telling me that I'm wrong.

Glad to see other people reaching the same conclusions. In the long term
we may be able to implement change, however there are vested interests
(patent lawyers for example) who make a living from the current system,
and will fight any attempt at change.

Never mind the current head of the U. S. Patent Office...

Wayne
http://madhatter.ca

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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