On Sat 09 Jul 2011 at 19:34:35 +1000, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > That's not how patents work. There's no requirement for actual lines > of code written by Microsoft to appear in the product to be a patent > infringement.
That is exactly what makes patents evil. In effect, software patents monopolize thoughts. Parallel invention is very common in the software world, and patents don't recognize that fact. > If Google or other Android phone manufacturers are paying licence > fees to Microsoft, then presumably they must be using Microsoft's > patents. That does not follow. An other possibility is that they have been bullied into paying. No infringement has been proven, by definition, because there has been no lawsuit. > That's just business as usual... all major companies, and > most minor ones, either cross-licence patents or pay licence fees. Here is an explanation, for lawyer-types, why software patents should not exist. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091111151305785 There are many more, this is just one. -Olaf. -- ___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert -- There's no point being grown-up if you \X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl -- can't be childish sometimes. -The 4th Doctor _______________________________________________ Pan-users mailing list Pan-users@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pan-users
