Interesting reading this evening about IBM pledging that OSS authors can use 500 patents of theirs in open source software without suing your pants off you like SCO has a habbit of doing.
IBM Statement of Non-Assertion of Named Patents Against OSS.
Theres more about this over over here.
Kodak Wins Java Lawsuit Against Sun.
From what I can gather about the lawsuit I find it really silly that Kodac could win a lawsuit when there is ample prior art which shows that the patent should never have been awarded to Kodac.
Maybe that experience is what gave Kodak the idea. The sheer number of software programs constantly being developed also makes patent searches an overwhelming task. And how do you research prior art in proprietary software licensed under terms that forbid reverse engineering? There are other reasons too that they list. Software is developed so rapidly a 20-year blockade is impractical; it never wears out, so the traditional argument that patents are needed to stimulate stagnant industries doesn't apply. Patents hold back rapid development, and they are designed to protect mature industries, once the rapid phase is completed, but with software, there is no end to the rapid development, no maturity plateau that can be beneficially protected. As Microsoft has learned, software doesn't wear out. You can run Windows 95 in 2004, if you so choose, and the only motivation to upgrade is if the customer wants innovation, new bells and whistles. So patents aren't needed to encourage invention. Software companies have to invent, because their product never wears out.
So we currently have a system that duplicates the game of Monopoly. You can't figure out in advance if you infringe, so it's like a roll of the dice. If you get caught, you pay millions or billions. Then you look for a victim who can pay you millions or billions, all sides paying through the nose for the cost of suing each other, and around the board everyone goes. This benefits software development how? And the public benefits how? Let's not even talk about free and open source developers, who obviously can't get into this high-stakes game, not having billions to play with. But what about startup proprietary software companies? Can they play this game? The big guys end up stockpiling patents, suing each other, and then cross-licensing, with costs being passed on to the customer. And for what? How is anyone benefitting from this patent cold war?
