Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpl-opus!hpnmdla!roger
From: roger@hpnmdla.HP.COM (Roger Petersen)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Software patents
Message-ID: <990018@hpnmdla.HP.COM>
Date: 1 Mar 91 19:53:54 GMT
References: <9102262229.AA07555@mole.ai.mit.edu>
Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA
Lines: 23


My $0.02:

Software Patents should be allowed and granted, but their lifetime
should be significantly reduced -- say, to 1 or 3 years -- depending
on how novel the invention.

This would reward the inventor with a head start, yet still allow the
rest of the world to fully benefit from the innovation.  And it would
encourage the inventor continue to innovate, instead of relying on 
lawyers to protect their empire.

Even if you think that 1 to 3 years is still too long, you have to admit
that it's a good first step toward a more reasonable patent system.

There's still a question of where to draw the fuzzy line between 
hardware and software, and on how to subjectively decide the lifetime
of any given patent.  But you have to admit:  most "inventions" don't
warrant a 17 year exclusivity right.

Roger "Technical wars!  Not legal wars!" Petersen

Speaking only for myself, of course.