Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!apple!motcsd!hpda!hpcuhb!hp-ses!hpdml93!hpbsla!kmarko
From: kmarko@hpbsla.HP.COM (Kurt_Marko)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Re: Software Patents
Message-ID: <50003@hpbsla.HP.COM>
Date: 17 May 89 14:36:09 GMT
References: <3206@tank.uchicago.edu>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Boise R & D Lab
Lines: 36

/ hpbsla:comp.sys.mac / briand@tekig4.LEN.TEK.COM (Brian Diehm) / 12:33 pm  May 15, 1989 /
>>I believe in protection of innovation, and to some extent "look and feel" (I'm
>>one of those seemingly few people who side with Apple in the Apple/Microsoft
>>case), but some of this stuff in the article is pretty scary.  One person
>>suggested there might even have to be a clearinghouse for patents, where
>>programmers could check out whether a concept was patented or not.  Sheesh!

...proverbial 'stuff deleted'

>innovator." Companies regularly and as standard practice seem to knowingly
>violate patents (though I have never seen this at Tektronix!). The idea seems
>to be to collect patents more as a self-defense measure. If some guy comes for
>you about violating his patent, you then examine his instruments carefully.
>Chances are, "he" (being a big corporation) will be in violation of several of
>your patents. You then come back defensively and say "if you sue me over this
>patent, I'll sue you over this, and this, and this, and THAT!" You wouldn't
>care about his violating your patents until he decides to get offensive.

>-Brian Diehm
>Tektronix, Inc.                (503) 627-3437         briand@tekig4.LEN.TEK.COM
>P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-383
>Beaverton, OR   97077                        (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)

I don't believe this is entirely correct, at least in my experience with
large corporations.  Most large companies have "cross-licensing" aggreements
with many (or most) of their competitors which allows the use of each
other's patents (I'm obviously no lawyer, so pardon my vagueness).  These
aggreements are made to head off just the sort of threats that Brian
refers to above.  Now, when some smaller (or foreign) company tries to use 
ideas patented by one of the big boys, he usally gets stepped on (witness TI's
recent "settlements" with Micron and several Japanese companies regarding
patents on DRAM technology).

Kurt Marko
H-P
kmarko@hpbsla.hp.com