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From: rms@AI.MIT.EDU (Richard Stallman)
Newsgroups: gnu.g++.help,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Software patents
Message-ID: <9012110035.AA08725@mole.ai.mit.edu>
Date: 11 Dec 90 00:35:59 GMT
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I expect software patents will put an end to the GNU project within a
couple of years if they are not eliminated.  It will not be possible
to write most of the programs that a user of GNU would expect without
infringing patents, and licensing patents is not an option for us.

To illustrate the problem, it appears that a patent was recently
granted on include files.  (Usenix told its members this patent
exists, but I don't have any details yet.)  It may be invalid, but
proving this in court could cost half a million dollars.  If we are
unlucky and the patent is upheld, there go GCC and G++ down the drain.

GNU developers are not the only ones afraid of patents.  In a workshop
with software developers in September, the Office of Technology
Assessment found that most of them were opposed to patents.  Many
prominent entrepreneurs including jimad's employer seem to think they
are a bad idea.

For more information about the danger of software patents, contact
league@prep.ai.mit.edu.