🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <PCG.91Aug18210217@aberda.aber.ac.uk> pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:


   The royalty would be by default something like 3-5% (which is little for
   a new product, where profit margins can be supposed to be something like
   30-50%, and a lot for mature products, where they can be supposed to be
   around 5-10%), and the inventor could reduce (but not increase) it at
   will.


I really like this idea. One problem I see with it, though, is the 
cummulative effect of multiple royalties. Suppose a programmer
incorporates 10 patented methods in his/her program. The royalties
would amount to 30-50%. You might have to come up with some pretty
messy scemes to limit this. (Alternately, you might limit patents
to such methods as are truly original and unusual :-).

I guess free software would be unaffected, since n% of zero is still
zero.

--Dietrich--
kap1@icarus.spc.uchicago.edu