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Tim Bray Finds An Affinity Between Patents And OSS
Manuzhai writes "Tim Bray, of XML co-invention fame, is writing about software patents and Open Source software today. While he deprecates the 'business-method' patents like one-click ordering, he thinks some (Open) source code could tell the truth about a patent application: 'In fact, in an ideal world, I'd rewrite the law to allow software patents but require a working Open-Source implementation as a condition of getting one.'"
Sounds more like a "shared source" (look, don't touch) than "open source" to me.. Especialy the freedom part doesn't seem to be there as the open source implementation is needed to get a patent. So the contents is patented and unusable as open source.. Or did I mis something here?
Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!
It doesn't have to be 'free open source', just open and source.
:) )
ie. The patent applicant not only has to write some code showing how his invention works in detail, but also has to show it to anyone who wants to see it. Those people who see it may not use it in their own applications (or they'd be violating the patent) so all the benefits of having a patent apply, but no-one would be able to patent anything that didn't have a concrete implementation (like 1-click for example).
I think that's the idea, but if you think about it - if you wrote code for 1-click, either you'd be restricting people from using the same techniques but they could implement 1-click in a different way, which I think does invalidate the idea of a patent after all.
Imagine I come up with a novel way of toasting bread, and I have to create my 'toaster'. If patents are to work, that'd have to stop other people from inventing the 'grill'. If that is true, then my way of implementing 1-click would stop other people from implementing 1-click in their own way.
The alternative, if my software only applies to my way of doing 1-click, then someone could legally invent the grill even though I have the toaster patent.
(I think I'll go lie down and wait for someone knowledgeable about patents to tell me what I mean
If you use the code, if you use their patented stuff, you had best negotiate a license or be sued out of existence. However, if you want to code around the patent, this could be very useful.
As much as this might disappoint the Perl hackers, there isn't always one way to do it. Sometimes there's only one good way of doing things (MP3 decoding comes to mind), and if the single-path bottleneck is patented then things might get difficult.
Why does free software have to be subjected to patents? It's not a commercial enterprise. If commercial entities stand to lose money from the competition of free software, surely that's their problem and not the free software coders'?
I think this could only work if the duration for which software patents were valid was shortened considerably (to, say, 3 years).
obfuscated source code contests> .
( It should be clear to us that, without very strong safeguards against it, that is what patent lawyers would tend to make out of writing source code for software patent applications, just like what they have made out of the descriptive text for normal patent applications. )
The problem with the current patenting scheme as it applies to software is that it's a conceptual patent. Patents, however, were meant to protect applications of concepts.
Take, for instance, the fire service. My dad's a career fireman and sits on several technical committees that draft and approve the specifications for different types of equipment used in firefighting (specifically, breathing apparatus). Every time the specification changes (recently, to include a visual warning device in the face mask to display the percentage/amount of breathable air left in a tank), the vendors have to build new functionality into their gear. Each one has to design something that meets the standard, and each one patents their implementation of the standard, or licenses an already patented mechanism that meets the requirements. Point being, the vendors can't patent the CONCEPT of having a heads-up display, just their particular electro-mechanical implementation if it's something novel.
Software, on the other hand, has been allowed to patent a CONCEPT (such as one-click ordering) rather than a particular implementation simply because they claim that exposing their particulars with respect to implementation (source code) would give someone a competitive advantage against them.
Hogwash. In fact, it's easier to modify a physical device enough to get a new patent... it's harder to modify software to make it apparently distinct from the original patented source, esepcially if it's written in another language where someone is going to make comparisons not on a line-by-line basis but a method-by-method basis, and get into comparative analysis.
I agree that the system is broken and needs to be fixed... and I think the way to do that *is* in fact to require software patents to include their source code as well as a solid description of the methods used (perhaps an object model, as well?)...