Red Hat Seeks Limits on Software Patents

eldavojohn writes "RedHat went to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals asking for limits on software patents yesterday. They have not uploaded their full brief yet online, but promise to post it soon. Here's a tidbit: 'Given the litigation risk, some open source companies, including Red Hat, acquire patents for the sole purpose of asserting them defensively in the event they are faced with a future lawsuit. Red Hat also provides open source intellectual property protections through our Open Source Assurance Program that protects our customers and encourages them to deploy with confidence. Our strategy is a prudent one and mitigates the risk of patent lawsuits, but it would be unnecessary if the system itself were fixed.'"

Comments

Re:Honestly

[Corpuscavernosa]

I said might not have been made and I was not necessarily arguing "for" the software patent system. I didn't say "would never have been made." I was merely speaking to the general principle that the patent system, screwed up as it is, can drive innovation to a point. For good or for bad. And that point was early in the history of software patents. I do believe that software patents are shit-useless and inhibit innovation now.

Forgive me for not being more thorough with my first post.