Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!dont-send-mail-to-path-lines
From: kk@shasta.tivoli.COM (Kerry Kimbrough)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Software patents
Message-ID: <9102272125.AA09794@shasta.tivoli.com>
Date: 27 Feb 91 21:25:14 GMT
References: <9102262229.AA07555@mole.ai.mit.edu>
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 14


   > It costs over half a million dollars to fight a lawsuit against a
   > patent, and not all patents can be overturned in this way.

So why fight? Pay the royalty or negotiate a patent swap. This is SOP for
patents; sw is no different.

There are several reasons why patents are beneficial to the common good, which
is definitely a subject for a different time and a different audience. But one
benefit is the intent --- confirmed by many decades of legal precedent --- that
patent rights can be acquired by anyone at reasonable cost.

BTW, this is also a reason why copyright protection for sw artifacts like user
interfaces is a BAD idea, while patent protection is conceivably a good idea.