Xref: utzoo sci.crypt:5327 comp.compression:890 misc.legal:27450 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!boingo.med.jhu.edu!haven.umd.edu!uflorida!travis!tom From: tom@ssd.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley) Newsgroups: sci.crypt,comp.compression,misc.legal Subject: Re: Software Patents, Another Side Message-ID: Date: 29 Jun 91 14:04:05 GMT References: <7792@cactus.org> Sender: news@travis.csd.harris.com Followup-To: sci.crypt Organization: Harris Computer Systems Division Lines: 37 In-reply-to: ritter@cactus.org's message of 28 Jun 91 05:24:59 GMT I believe the problem with software patents is not that they are granted, but that they are granted for incredibly trivial ideas which a 12 year old would probably invent in the normal course of playing with his computer and not even think about having done anything special. A case in point is the patent (held by IBM, I believe) for using the 'xor' operation for drawing a cursor on a bitmap display. This particular technique has probably been independently invented by everyone that has ever fooled with a graphics program, yet the patent office issued a patent for it. This sort of thing is "patently" absurd (groan :-). The root of the problem is not software patents, it is gross incompetence in the patent office. As long as the patent office continues to issue patents for trivial ideas, programmers will be required to have literally every line of code they write pushed through a patent search to make sure they didn't accidentally violate someone's patent. Then they will probably have to patent all the lines of code they write themselves to protect themselves from any future patent trouble. The whoe thing is ridiculous. It is possible for good patents to be issued. An example is something like the patent Barnsely and company hold on fractal image compression. Here is an example of someone with considerable mathematical talent spending a good part of his life developing a technique that is based on such obscure mathematical techniques, that is would probably take anyone the 17 years it takes the patent to expire to duplicate it. The problem comes in the gap between these examples. Just how unique does something have to be to be patentable? Right now the patent office appears willing to grant anyone a patent for anything. As long as they are doing that, the best thing to do is oppose all patents because of the havok trivial patents can potentially cause. -- ====================================================================== domain: tahorsley@csd.harris.com USMail: Tom Horsley uucp: ...!uunet!hcx1!tahorsley 511 Kingbird Circle Delray Beach, FL 33444 +==== Censorship is the only form of Obscenity ======================+ | (Wait, I forgot government tobacco subsidies...) | +====================================================================+