🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1991May20.183038.9967@watson.ibm.com> metzger@watson.ibm.com (Perry E. Metzger) writes:
>
>Warning: I'm not a lawyer, but...
>
Ditto...but...

>
>I say that we form the Mark Riordan legal defense fund, and force RSA
							     ^^^^^^^^^
>into court.	
 ^^^^ ^^^^^
>
I would love to see this happen pertaining to a clear algorithm patent.
The 'expert witness' testimony alone would make for a mini soap opera.,
 similar to the Intel vs. NEC microcode case.

In my personal brush with SW algorithm patents, it became VERY clear that no
definitive judgements have been given, in court... ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,
yet claims have been made for items as simple as representations of the laws
of Boolean Logic. 

A  patent today is no more than a LICENSE to sue.
An algorithm patent today is no more than a fear & doubt factor.

>
>     Software and Algorithm patents are immoral and unnatural. RSA,
>     and "Public Key Partners", are parasites who extort money from
>     people and impede technological progress. They do nothing for a
>     living but collect license fees from patents that should not have
>     been granted in the first place. It is as unnatural to permit the
>     patenting of RSA is it would be to permit the patenting of
>     Euclids GCD algorithm. Its time that RSA was brought into court
>     and the patent was broken.
>
>Perry Metzger

I don't have the same fervor as Perry, but my sentiment is similar
in wanting to resolve this growing fear & doubt factor in court.

All of the algorithm patents I've heard about sound pretty silly, given the
essential 'abstract nature' and large body of 'prior art' that led to
the 'invention'. I must admit that five to ten negative decisions would
go a long way in re-adjusting my business attitude towards SW patents.
My philosophical attitude would take much longer to change...perhaps never.


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