Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!mintaka!bloom-beacon!rlcarr From: rlcarr@athena.mit.edu (The Veteran Cosmic Rocker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: thought Dillon and friends would like to know Summary: Goddamned software patents! Message-ID: <1990Jul27.204559.26305@athena.mit.edu> Date: 27 Jul 90 20:45:59 GMT Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background) Organization: Melnibone Lines: 39 pass it on... Grrrrrr! DAMN software patents! From: rms@AI.MIT.EDU Newsgroups: gnu.gcc Subject: Imagine if you couldn't use compress any more Message-ID: <9007271812.AA09756@sugar-bombs.ai.mit.edu> It's not imaginary--it's happening. The people who wrote the compress program and put it in the public domain had no way of knowing that a patent was pending for the algorithm. The patent was later granted, and now Unisys says we're not allowed to run compress without their permission. There doesn't seem to be a basis for overturning the patent legally, so the FSF is going to have to stop using compress. It's unlikely that Unisys would sue us--but we would not want to put the users in a compromised position where they would need permission to use uncompress. We're now looking into other data compression algorithms to use instead of compress. If we find one, then we will replace all the compressed files on prep. If we cannot come up with something suitable, then we will switch to uncompressed files for distribution as soon as we come up with the disk space to store them. This is just the beginning of the shocks that software patents will cause the user community. If you want more information on the issue, send mail to league@prep.ai.mit.edu and ask for the position paper on software patents. --[0626]-- (nref = [0627]) -- Rich Carreiro The "War on Drugs" ARPA: rlcarr@athena.mit.edu is merely a smokescreen for UUCP: ...!mit-eddie!mit-athena!rlcarr The War on the Constitution BITNET: rlcarr@athena.mit.edu JITTLOV FOREVER!