Article View: comp.sys.unisys
Article #330Re: Boycott on Unisys still effective
From: Michael I Bushnell
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 02:21
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 02:21
29 lines
2697 bytes
2697 bytes
In article <1995Jan11.155605.3593@unislc.slc.unisys.com> msmith@unislc.slc.unisys.com (Matt Smith) writes: Wrong. That isn't how patents work. The person who WROTE the compress program is the one violating the Unisys patent, not the USER of the program. Therefore, anything that was WRITTEN to perform LZW compression/decompression before January 10 is ok. You are incorrect. There are two types of patents: method patents and object patents. Software patents are all method patents, which apply to the person who uses the method. The software developer might be contributing to infringment (and a user themselves) but the user is also an infringer. Think of it this way. If someone had patented a particular method for building cars, and another company used that exact same method for making cars, then would it be the manufacturer or the people who bought the cars who would be infringing on the patent? It obviously would be the manufacturer. The difference depends on whether it is a method or object patents. In the case of car building, any method patents are used only by the factor, not the car owner. This is thus different from software, where the user is a user of the method. -- Michael I. Bushnell | +1 617 253 8568 -+- mib@gnu.ai.mit.edu | |
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1056b0,bf0aced2f502dde0 X-Google-Attributes: gid1056b0,public X-Google-Thread: ff68d,bf0aced2f502dde0 X-Google-Attributes: gidff68d,public X-Google-Thread: 1025b4,bf0aced2f502dde0 X-Google-Attributes: gid1025b4,public X-Google-Thread: 10e24f,bf0aced2f502dde0 X-Google-Attributes: gid10e24f,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1995-01-12 05:20:09 PST Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!nntp.gmd.de!dearn!blekul11!idefix.CS.kuleuven.ac.be!ub4b!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net! news.sprintlink.net!hookup!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!ai-lab!life.ai.mit.edu!mib From: mib@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell) Newsgroups: comp.sys.unisys,gnu.misc.discuss,alt.gif-agreement,alt.online-service.compuserve Subject: Re: Boycott on Unisys still effective Followup-To: comp.sys.unisys,gnu.misc.discuss,alt.gif-agreement,alt.online-service.compuserve Date: 12 Jan 1995 02:21:25 GMT Organization: Free Software Foundation, Cambridge, MA Lines: 29 Message-ID: <MIB.95Jan11212125@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu> References: <YLO.95Jan7234633@shadows.cs.hut.fi> <3end5q$l32@xcalibur.IntNet.net> <MIB.95Jan9013040@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu> <1995Jan11.155605.3593@unislc.slc.unisys.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu In-reply-to: msmith@unislc.slc.unisys.com's message of Wed, 11 Jan 1995 15:56:05 GMT