Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA To Auction Automated Code Generation Patents

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the that-doesn't-seem-right dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said it is set to auction an exclusive license to five patents it holds for automated software development on November 11, 2010. NASA said the technology was originally developed to handle coding of control code for spacecraft swarms, but it is applicable to any commercial application where rule-based systems development is used."

3 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. i'm sorry... by gandhi_2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i was kind of thinking that since, you know, WE payed NASA to invent stuff.. the public already owned it.

    --
    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:i'm sorry... by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The government can't copyright, so I'm baffled at it being able to patent.

      --
      Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
  2. Sickening by Concern · · Score: 5, Insightful

    NASA hurts it's own reputation horribly by auctioning software patents rather than holding them for the public trust and acknowledging the obvious: software patents are incompatible with a software industry.

    They then compound the insult by taking advantage of some suckers paying cash for something that is legally questionable in light of Bilksi and that may soon have explicitly no value at all.

    It's an obvious fact. The sooner we stop denying it and explicitly repudiate software patents as a matter of policy (as most every advanced nation already does), the sooner the damage to our economy stops.

    --
    Tired of Political Trolls? Opt Out!