Interwoven Patents Code Versioning

webengr writes "It seems like the USPO is pretty lenient when it comes to awarding software patents. CVS has been around for a long time, but now Interwoven has been awarded a new patent covering version control of web assets. The claims include, 'The use of a hierarchical file system and an object repository for representing and hosting content and its structure,' and 'The combined concepts of file history, versioning, comparison, and merging as it relates to content, provide an archive of all individual changes as well as collections of changes so they can be versioned and audited.'"

Comments

lenient ? are you kidding ?

[Booie Paog]

"It seems like the USPO is pretty lenient when it comes to awarding software patents." no kidding. the USPO appears, in some cases, to not only be lenient, but to be completely oblivious to the purpose of having patents, as well as having wild interpretations of patent law. software patents, the way that they are currently handled, is incorrect, with regards to the original means that was set out by even Thomas Jefferson himself. to be able to patent compiled binary code, without regards to the source, or ENTIRE details of the mechanism that the software is implying is insane, and will continue to destroy the legal ability to innovate based on derivative work.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The PTO has no incentive *not* to grant patents

[Sanity]

Their attitude is to grant patents left right and center, and let the courts sort it out. The have no real incentive to try and find prior art.

The problem is that in the time between the dumb patent being granted, and the courts sorting it out, severe damage can be done to people's freedom to innovate.

Recall that over the past 100 years (and beyond), significant advances in technology have almost always been despite IP laws, not because of them*

*Some examples:

• The modern movie industry set up in Southern California to escape from Edison's patents
• The VCR was fought tooth and nail by the movie industry even though 2/3rds of their revenue now come from video rentals and sales
• The proliferation of the commodity PC was only possible when IBM's BIOS was reverse engineered thus evading trade secret laws
• The Internet is currently under siege from copyright holders
• One of the worlds fastest growing operating systems, Linux, explicitly rejects the concept of intellectual property in its license

Re:The PTO has no incentive *not* to grant patents

[awol]

One of the worlds fastest growing operating systems, Linux, explicitly rejects the concept of intellectual property in its license

Unfortunately, no it doesn't. Indeed, Linux (and GNU) explicitly relies on IP to make the GPL binding. This is the problem, even the answer to IP, Free Software, requires IP in order to live because of the existence of IP in the first place. It is a classic Catch 22 situation

Re:Ugh.

[HBI]

2) Over 90% of the serving members of the 3 branches of government were lawyers. Lawyers and old-money own the government(now more than ever). Do you think they will regulate themselves?

Where did that come from? Even *appointed* officials aren't 90% lawyers, and rank and file government employees sure as hell even aren't *mostly* lawyers. It's a tiny, tiny fraction of the total government work force.

USPTO sucks, but let's not get carried away here.