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Richard Stallman: Limit the Effect of Software Patents

An anonymous reader writes "We can't get rid of software patents, says Richard Stallman, but we could change how they apply to creating and using software and hardware. In an editorial at Wired, he advocates for a legislative solution to the patent wars that would protect both developers and users. Quoting: 'We should legislate that developing, distributing, or running a program on generally used computing hardware does not constitute patent infringement. This approach has several advantages: —It doesn't require classifying patents or patent applications as "software" or "not software." —It provides developers and users with protection from both existing and potential future computational idea patents. —Patent lawyers can't defeat the intended effect by writing applications differently.'"

2 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Right on by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's because

    eval "Richard Stallman"

    returns 0.

  2. Re:The lawyers themselves are just soldiers for hi by kumanopuusan · · Score: 2, Funny

    The scorpion and the turtle

    Damn, they have armor-piercing scorpions now?

    --
    Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.