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Interviews: Ask Florian Mueller About Software Patents and Copyrights

Posted by samzenpus on from the go-ahead-and-ask dept.

Florian Mueller is a blogger, software developer and former consultant who writes about software patents and copyright issues on his FOSSPatents blog. In 2004 he founded the NoSoftwarePatents campaign, and has written about Microsoft's multi-billion-dollar Android patent licensing business and Google's appeal of Oracle's Android-Java copyright case to the Supreme Court. Florian has agreed to give us some of his time in order to answer your questions. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.

6 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. What Is Your Relationship with Microsoft & Ora by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You were a valuable unbiased source of information on software patents and patent litigation. Particularly the German court's struggle with them. However it came to light -- in a rather surprising way -- that you were paid or possibly employed by Microsoft and Oracle. I have heard much about this and it often casts a negative light on your blogging but I would like to hear your side of these relationships. I can conceivably understand how you could accept money that furthers your ideals but it is difficult to comprehend how I can be assured this does not influence your writing, position, selected details and bias. Are you able to lay my concerns to rest?

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    My work here is dung.
  2. and, most importantly, shill by slashdice · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You write about companies. Some of them have paid you (directly or perhaps indirectly through their advertising agencies, etc). What's the intersection of that set?

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    Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
  3. OK... by msauve · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Who's idea was it to do this Q&A - Slashdot or you?

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    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  4. Who paid for a Q&A on Slashdot? by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Who (or how many parties) paid you to do a Q&A on Slashdot?

    Thanks

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    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  5. OracleVSGoogle: Judge can program, you still for O by fxbar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When it was clear that Judge Alsup in Oracle vs Google can program Java, how the *#*# could you still think Oracle would get its huge victory? Do you understand that you look like a shill for such things?

    Any commenter that knows about programming said in this very moment that this will become a monumental defeat for Oracle, only you still believed in Oracle (you were very wrong as we know).

    It was so funny when the Judge explained that any teenager could program a range check [bool check(val, min, max) {return val >= min && val <= max;}] and the Oracle lawyer looked like a complete idiot.

  6. Corrections by eibhear · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How many times have you contacted news and commentary organisations to correct their description of you as a patent lawyer? How often have they made the correction?