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.'"

Comments

No, it doesn't

[HBI]

It's a way of pinning down patents to a specific algorithm. Some (most) of these applications are so broad it's difficult to figure out what the patent covers and what it doesnt. A working implementation makes this 100% clear.

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.

Re:At least...

[Halo1]

Plenty of alternatives have already been proposed. The problem is that patent lawyer associations simply do not want any changes that could substantially reduce the number of granted patents (see points 6 and 10).

Besides, this proposal has a problem of its own: software patents can include so-called "program claims". In that case, not just the use of a program which infringes the patent, but also the publication of such a program can be forbidden. Many software patents (and even non-software patents) are starting to include those.

If you start adding source code to patents, then those patent descriptions themselves can infringe on other patents. It's completely silly since the patent system is supposed to encourage publication of information, but nowadays it can also be used to for forbidding publication of information (because some people think software is the same as a "machine", instead of simply a description of something).