Beauprez on Sun, IBM and the Tragedy of the "Patent Commons"

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Sun, IBM and the tragedy of the "patent commons"
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 17:32:40 -0600
From: "Christian Beauprez" <campaign <at> codeliberty.org>

> http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-25-2005/0002902287&EDATE=

"Addressing the patent system that is under siege, Sun's pledge
of open access reduces the quagmire for developers who previously
had to walk through a minefield to avoid infringement and enables
them to confidently produce derivative works without fear of
reprisal or patent claims."
  - Sun statement

The problem is that I don't consider an original piece of
software to be a "derivative work" because it infringes patents.
It is an original work if it is the author's intellectual
creation. (As Berne Says)

The thing I find really sad about companies clinging to patents
and offering give aways even though everyone knows the system is
hopelessly broken is that they are no doubt being promised by
their teams of "IPR" lawyers that if they only hold on for a bit
longer and increase the scope of patents somehow one day they
will inherit the earth. In actual fact IBM and SUN are less safe,
the only people who fear their patents are small developers who
write software.

The troll companies, often full of the same lawyers that are
telling them how wonderful the patent system is, can still cause
untold amounts of damage to both companies. In contrast to SUNs
patents all the trolls need is one to start a lawsuit and since
they don't produce any software the counter threat of IBM and
SUN'S 10000 patents won't protect them at all.

In terms of a "patent commons" we already have a "commons", one
of abstract ideas that are not protected by copyright (it's free
and doesn't cost $1,000,000's to waste on lawyers only to give it
away), software patents will destroy this commons and replace it
with a new inferior model where independent creators become serfs
that work on "derivative works" that they themselves create.

Christian Beauprez

-- www.codeliberty.org -- Software Authors Have Rights.

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.3 - Release Date: 1/24/05

--

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.3 - Release Date: 1/24/05