Patent Case With FOSS Implications

ThousandStars writes, "SCOTUSBlog posted about the liklihood that the Supreme Court will review whether an organization can get around software patents by completing the work in other countries. This case has huge implications for OSS projects with coders in the U.S., as it may inhibit, among other things, the ability of American coders to contribute to projects that violate U.S. software patents." The Patently-O blog gives background on the case.

Comments

Software patents?

[bram]

Does anyone living outside of the US actually care about US patents?

Just a question.

Re:Software patents?

[Scarblac]

Yes. The Doha round of WTO negotiations have collapsed, so every country is making bilateral agreements with every other country.

And the US is trying to get their IP laws implemented everywhere else, along with mutual recognition of existing patents (that usually don't exist elsewhere yet, so whenever that happens, US companies have lots of patents while companies from the other side have none).

And governments everywhere listen to the same big multinationals, who have US patent portfolios and want to grab the open space everywhere else. See Microsoft etc fighting for software patents in the EU, that sort of thing.

So yes we care, because what happens in the US happens everywhere else, a bit later.

Re:Microsoft is behind this!

[ajakk]

Will someone please mod the parent down? Microsoft is filing a petition for cert. so that the Supreme Court can overturn the current interpretation of this law. Despite everyone's hatred for Microsoft, they are actually promoting the position that would be most beneficial for OSS. The U.S. government is also supporting this interpretation. From the article:

The Government argues that the extraterritorial nature of U.S. patents should be narrowly construed and that if someone wants rights to stop foreign infringement, then they should get foreign patents.

AT&T is the one trying to enforce their U.S. patents, not Microsoft.