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Message
From: Enrico Weigelt<weigelt@m...>
Date: Sun Jul 6 17:55:43 CEST 2008
Subject: [oc] patents and logic cores
* Richard Herveille <richard@h...> wrote:Hi, > The original idea behind the patent system is not bad; it provides
> protection for the initial developer and opens their invention for
> improvements by others.
that's long, long time ago ...
BTW: the *original* meaning of patents, IMHO, was the right to
piracy in the name of the crown - that actually fits the current
situation very well.
> However lately (especially in the US) the patent system has turned into a
> cash cow. Simply forgetting the "improvements by others" and only using the
> "protection" part. Nowadays the patent holder with the most cash (i.e. can
> survive in court the longest) wins. This is *NOT* what patents are about.
Right, so even several courts (IMHO) are trying to limit patentability.
> In my opinion this limits development. We all want (open) standards to
> ensure interoperability. No closed, proprietary systems anymore. But this
> inherently means we need to use some 'technology' that has been patented
> by somebody somewhere.
Or to get rid of the whole patent system.
> The European take on patents is more in line with the original idea,
> although multinationals are gaining in their push for a more US like approach.
Even worse, much worse: they try to implement an *unlimited* patent system
which judges directly coming from within the patent office. In fact, this
is a major break with the primary principle of separation of powers, so
anti-constitutional in practically all EU states.
> Fortunately in Europe you still need a touchable device to patent.
> So an idea cannot be patented, neither is software (which is not touchable).
> An algorithm cannot be patented either, unless you implement it in a device.
> The patent then covers "A device to ....".
Couldn't be more far from truth: the EPA has granted ten-thousands of pure
software patents. Of course in direct violation of the legal situation.
Instead of correcting their mistakes, they're working very hard on
"adapting the legal situation to the current practise" - in other words:
try to legalize their illegal actions. It took us a hard fight to stop
at least the worst parts in the EP.
In fact, the whole EU is totally anti-constitutional, and lots of people
already already pressed criminal charges on high treason against lot's
of politicians.
> However as long as you don’t sell oil you should be safe from invading forces :p
I wouldn't counton that ...
> As said before, patents hold for commercial activities. You are allowed to
> develop the code which is patented. You are even allowed to publish it (it
> is already publish in the patent anyways).
No, at least not in the EU. Publishing the code already means an infrignment,
since you allow other people to use the so called "invention" and so hurt
the patent holder's commericial interests.
> Now political pressure can be applied even without patents. For example ARM
> holds a patent on the THUMB instruction set architecture. This means you
> could safely implement an ARM, as long as you leave out the THUMB
> instructions (and other parts that might be patented).
If the patent claims the instruction set itself (not just an specific
implementation), it already is an software patent. Such patents claims
don't have anything to do with invention protection, but just are weapons
for legal wars.
> However even here money talks ... ARM successfully pressured organizations
> (including OpenCores) to remove any implementations of ARM processors, even
> though it is legal to make and publish these implementations. It simply boils
> down to who holds up in court the longest.
ACK. Even totally illegal patents are good weapons for those who have enough
money to file a suit.
> Finally some thoughts on the current patent law system.
> Technology companies want to relax the patent laws, returning to the
> original idea of "improvements by others" instead of "protection", because
> any device nowadays inherently violates some patent one way or another and
> it is impossible to check all patents. So that means a company releases a
> product and then has to wait until it gets sued to figure out whether or not
> it violated a patent. And with the ridiculous damage claims and awards this
> can break a company.
IMHO, you mixed up "relax" and "strict". An "relaxed" patent system (as
currently in installation process in the institutionalized criminility
called "EU") means: you can claim more and more things ...
But: it's interesting to see that the people who're actually doing innovation
are gainst universal patentability.
> On the other hand medical companies want much stricter patent laws, because
> their product is covered by one (or only a few) patents, so it is much
> easier to check.
They even want patents on purely natural things, eg. genomes.
Perhaps you'll someday have to pay license fes, just because you're born ;-o
> Funny enough the most important cases are willingly violated, for example AIDS
> medicine which is ridiculously expensive due to the high licensing costs.
> So countries violate the patent to generate generic versions of the drugs in
> the name of public health protection (which makes perfect sense to me).
Yep, otherwise these countries would to genocide.
> Another weird results of the current system ... The Human Genome Project
> made an effort to identify and list the entire human genome system. There's
> 1 US company that identified the gene that causes increased risk of breast
> cancer a few days before the Human Genome Project did. They applied for a
> patent and got it...
In those cases, I think it's perfectly legal for people who are about to
die of cancer because they can't pay the patented medicine, to kill the
responsible folks.
cu
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Enrico Weigelt == metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
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