FOSS Community Can Combat Bad Patents

An anonymous reader lets us know about a new initiative designed to help shield the open source software community from threats posed by patent trolls. The initiative, called Linux Defenders (the website is slated to go live tomorrow, Dec. 9), is sponsored by a consortium of technology companies including IBM. "The most novel feature of the new program... will be its call to independent open source software developers all over the world to start submitting their new software inventions to Linux Defenders... so that the group's attorneys and engineers can, for no charge, help shape, structure, and document the invention in the form of a 'defensive publication.' Linux Defenders will then also see to it that the publication, duly attributing authorship of the invention to the developer who submitted it, is filed on the IP.com Web site, a database used by the US Patent and Trademark Office and other patent examiners throughout the world when they are trying to determine whether a proposed patent is truly novel..."

Comments

Re:Hopefully this works ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, I patented posting anonymously. You owe me $500 in damages!

Bad parents?

[Z80xxc!]

Somehow I read that as "FOSS Community Can Combat Bat Parents". I was really excited, too. Oh well... been a bad past few days I guess.

Rule #1 : vendors lending legal support

[NZheretic]

As I stated over two years ago

1) Any patent lawsuit against a user of a software component used by major vendors will automatically result in those vendors lending legal support to reduce the chance that their own customers will also end up being sued.
2) Any patent lawsuit costs the suing party at least several hundred thousand dollars.
3) Any patent put before the courts is at very great risk of being destroyed by prior art.
4) Any payout awarded from a single end user has to be in proportion to value of the patented technology. The value of a single instance will could only be measured in hundreds of dollars, not coming close to covering the costs of the lawsuit to the plaintiff.
5) Patent lawsuits take six years to over a decade to work it's way though appeals.
6) Developers will release new software using a method that circumvents the patent in question within two months. This will be quickly adopted and by the time the first patent case is resolved there will be no further customers for the patent holder to sue.
7) The outrage generated in taking out a case against any open source will result in Groklaw [groklaw.net] and other groups putting the suing party and their lawyers under the closest scrutiny. You will not believe the level of bad publicity, let alone the the amount of prior art, dirty business practices, and legal suspect practices and even violation of statutes that will be uncovered.

Lastly to quote Pulp Fiction, and then "we are going to get medieval on your ass."

Any IP case against users of open source puts the attacker at a far greater risk.

What now? Let me tell you what now. IBM will call a coupla hard, case-hittin' lawyers, who'll go to work on the trolls here with a combination of prior art and counter suits.

IP.com ?

[mmu_man]

I thought it would be about Internet Protocol or something else really useful. Bloody domain squatters!

IBM?

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting IBM to help you defend your patent is like getting a wolf help you defend your chickens....

The irony of IBM being involved.

[geekmux]

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it rather ironic that IBM, holder of the how-to-split-your-dinner-bill patent, is co-sponsoring a project to protect us from bad patents?

Hey Pot, the Kettle called while you were out. He left a message mumbling something about WTF...

Re:I could be mistaken here

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux kernel violates 235 of Micro$oft patents. It's a fact.

http://www.google.com/search?q=linux+violates+patents