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Understanding (and Avoiding) Software Patents?
An anonymous reader asks: "I'd like to write some Free backup software, but this area is mined with patents. I downloaded one and tried to understand it, but the 'claims' section (arguably the most important part) is made up of utterly incomprehensible patentese, and I can't afford to hire a patent attorney to help me understand it. Are there any free or cheap ways to learn enough about patents to understand them, so I can figure out exactly what is patented and therefore avoid it?"
"How different does my software have to be in order to be non-infringing? The patent I tried to understand is Dantz's 5,150,473. Many, including Slashdot readers, have said what this patent covers, but from reading the patent itself, I would never have guessed. Also, there are lots of other patents to understand and avoid, so I'm looking for general information on how I can unravel it all into language I can understand."
you can't know if there has been some patents applied that haven't been published yet.
it's impossible for you to learn of all the patents that you might have to deal with.
the solution? just write the fsckin software, if someone complains then take it out.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
If you aren't making money.
Perversely, it's not a very good idea to actually do a patent search before lunging into your neat new idea. Should you actually find evidence that your invention was close to patented technology and that fact comes out in court, you will be accused of violating the patent deliberately.
If you never looked, on the other hand, you just didn't know about it and may have violated someone's patent as a result.
Further, you'll only be subject to serious trouble on the patent front if you're wildly successful (i.e. harming the patent holder's market share). In that case, there ought to be enough interested parties with money to actually handle the challenge.
I am not a lawyer, but I've talked to a few on this exact subject with the exact same question.
Regards,
Ross
In addition to there simply being too much to read, in the US, if it can be shown that you knowingly infringed a patent, the amount of damages you can be liable for is trebled (x3).
You're much safer in your ignorance.
Just write the damn thing, I don't see what's wrong with it being patented
The way I have attacked this in the past is to go through it sentence by sentence and translate it back into English, keeping a glossary of things which seem to make sense in context.
From your example: "The archive format includes the transfer of data to an archive media member, which archive media member can alternatively be addressable or sequential memory and can be recordable in either a rewriteable or right [sic] once manner."
Glossary: Archive media member - a tape or disk. (This is backed up by the fact that these may be sequential or "addressable" (i.e. random access)).
So, in other words, "The archives are stored on tapes or disks, which may be rewritable or write-once."
This is, of course, a tedious and laborious process. (Just imagine, however, being a patent lawyer and having to actually write this stuff for a living.)
Note well that, if the CIID passes, us software developers in Europe are going to have to learn to do this much more often. Here's an obligatory link to the FFII for the benefit of anyone who's been on Mars for the last 6 months.
OK, here's an idea. How about an open directory of patent translations?
Once you've translated a patent into English, you would upload it to the directory for others to use. They would be available under something like a creative commons license, with a feedback/rating system, standard disclaimers that original legalese has priority over the translation (of course), and that translations are supplied for convenience only.
The web interface could optionally display the original and the translation side-by-side, aligned by paragraphs, so you can easily cross-check. There should be a simple way to post/suggest corrections.
NOTE: This posting consitutes prior art on this concept. You may not patent it!
ASIDE: The method described for translation is basically the same as that described by Richard Feynman for dealing with obtuse english. Here's a quote:
"There was a sociologist who had written a paper for us all to read - something he had written ahead of time. I started to read the damn thing, and my eyes were coming out: I couldn't make head nor tail or it! I figured it was because I hadn't read any of the books on that list. I had this uneasy feeling of "I'm not adequate," until I finally said to myself, "I'm gonna stop, and read one sentence slowly, so I can figure out what the hell it means.
So I stopped - at random - and read the next sentence very carefully. I can't remember it precisely, but it was very close to this: "The invidivual member of the social community often received his information via visual, symbolic channels." I went back and forth over it, and translated. You know what it means? "People Read."
(From "Is Electricity Fire?" in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman".)
Sean Ellis
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...work to get rid of them. Seriously. There is absolutely nothing you can do to protect yourself from software patents, other than this.
> If you never looked, on the other hand, you just didn't know about it and may have violated someone's patent as a result.
IAAL and I can tell you that in tort law, ignorance is not a viable defense. This is basic tort law and any lawyer who passed bar should know this.
Besides, if you spend all your time looking for a patent you mighg be violating, you'll not get any coding done.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Now before you take me outside and give me a good (and possibly deserved) kicking this was for a fairly involved process, and not for something blatantly obvious and oft-used (isnot anybody?)
Despite writing large chunks of the text after the legal department had their way with it I can't tell you what it does.
Not out of fear, or nondisclosure or other legal hurdles - it's just but I don't understand a damn word of it!
What do these legal teams smoke in their breaks?