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Sun Files For Patent on Software Licensing Method

Posted by michael on from the deep-sigh dept.

cft_128 writes "CNet writes that Sun Microsystems President Jonathan Schwartz has filed for three new patents, one of them on the companies per-employee software pricing plan. The pricing patent application was summarized: 'Method for licensing software to an entity, including determining a per-employee cost for the software, determining a number of employees of the entity, and determining a total licensing cost using the number of employees and the per-employee cost, wherein the total licensing cost comprises a software license for all employees of the entity and all customers of the entity.' The plan was introduced last year on Sun's Java Enterprise System, charging $100 per employee. Schwartz did say that any money the patents generate will be donated to charities."

4 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Better than "CPU" licencing by acomj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A large data base company gave use prices based on Mhz of CPUs on the machine running the database (with a multiplier for Risc Cpus.) I thought that was inovative!

    But seriously, if you install more copies you pay more. This is called selling and shouldn't be patented.

  2. Re:why not ? by coofercat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It looks like the US is falling to the lowest common denominator. If one big player does it, the others have to follow or lose out.

    If Sun are giving any patent royalties to charity, then I suspect they're saying "we don't want this, but we've got to do it". I'd sort of imagine they wouldn't need to bother collecting any money for the patent though, would they?

    It looks to me like most folks here have a problem with the fact that such a patent can exist, and can get past the utter stupidity of the USPTO, as opposed to anything to do with Sun doing things as lowly as MS et al. CNet are hamming it up for the benefit of chest-beating /.ers.

    Do something about that daft patent system. And please don't let it happen here in Europe. It's only a way to create jobs in the PTO and Law sectors, everyone else loses.

  3. Is this possible? by evil_one666 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is it really possible to patent a legal contract? This is insane!!

  4. WikiPriorArt by Famatra · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Prior art anyone?"

    We need a WikiPriorArt like Wikipedia. So when you ask that you know where to go to check up. And if you do have prior art, you'd go there also and input the prior art.

    Also it could be used to publish ideas so they act as prior art against future patent ideas.