🚀 go-pugleaf

On 20 Feb 91 12:34:01 GMT, brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) said:

brnstnd> In article <21698@yunexus.YorkU.CA> oz@yunexus.yorku.ca (Ozan
brnstnd> Yigit) writes:

oz> That is nice. I think you should publish the algorithm (and a
oz> through analysis of it) in some respectable journal.

brnstnd> I'm working on a paper.

Why not patent it? :-)

Seriously, as the FSF might also use patents in the same way as it uses
copyrights, to ensure that certain designs can circulate freely instead
of being hoarded.

Suppose that you do not patent your algorithm; somebody else later can
rediscover and patent it, and then *you* have to sue the somebody and
prove that you had prior art. If you preempt this by getting a patent
and then licensing it for free (to everybody that promises to use it
only in copyleft sources, or under similar conditions), this becomes
much more difficult, because at the very least your work will turn up in
a patent search and subsequent hoarders will have their claim rejected
by the Patent Office (hopefully).

Naturally there is a snag: while copylefting a source costs nothing,
freepatenting an algorithm or a device costs thousands of dollars.

Maybe the FSF could decide to do something about this for some possibly
important ideas, like establishing a fund and a panel to decide which of
the technologies submitted to the FSF should be patented drawing fropm
that fund's money.

The idea appeals to me a lot, because then the FSF could accumulate a
portfolio of freepatents, and if it became suitably attractive, patent
portfolio swaps could be arranged with large corporations, thus freeing
even more patents.

I for one would surely contribute some patentable technology to the FSF;
I have posted in the past an algorithm for compiling multiple
assignments, and the design of a reverse map MMU, in an attempt to
prevent others to patent them eventually. It would have been much better
I think to let the FSF patent them and then let everybody use them. I
think that Dan Bernstein and others could be contributors too.
--
Piercarlo Grandi                   | ARPA: pcg%uk.ac.aber.cs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth        | UUCP: ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-cs!pcg
Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk