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Patent Law Ruling Threatens FOSS

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the multi-tasking dept.

savio13 writes "The EFF has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a patent law ruling that could pose a serious threat to Free and Open Source Software projects. A recent Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision required that even the most obvious incremental advances can be patented unless it can be proved that someone else suggested it prior to the patent being filed. As such, many 'bad patents' are being used as roadblocks for legitimate innovators, especially those working for FOSS projects (who have better things to do then search through thousands of technical papers for some mention of the obvious). The full brief is available online in PDF format."

2 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. /. editors have better things to do... by RingDev · · Score: 5, Funny

    Than to sort through yestarday's stories: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/24/15 13218

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    1. Re:/. editors have better things to do... by Richy_T · · Score: 4, Funny

      The scene: A badly lit office somewhere in America. Empty pizza boxes are scattered around and a plush penguin lies face down on the floor.

      Sounds of death and destruction come from the corner. Panning around, we see a Slashdot editor (it doesn't matter which one) hunched over a keyboard playing the latest version of quake or WoW or Everquest (it doesn't matter which one). Almost inaudible, a "beep beep beep" sounds from watch on the editor's wrist. It's time for a new Slashdot article. He looks up at his second monitor to the open "Slashdot Submitted Articles" page and scans frantically for the words "Microsoft", "SCO" or "Patent" (it doesn't matter which one) clicks quickly at the "accept" button (maybe he gets the button for the previous article, maybe the next. It doesn't matter which one) then gets back to the real business of the day, some serious, hard-core fragging.

      Rich