Re: Software patents

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Article #1211

#1211

From: Maciej Stachowiak
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 00:00

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> I think courts are lenient if the defendents can show that they made
> reasonable efforts to comply with existing patents.  

Not knowing of the patent is not a defense. Independent invention is
not a defense. Previous lack of enforcement of the patent by the
patent holder is not a defense. Even if all of these apply you can
still be sued for damages (though they will likely be lower than for
willful infringement).

> Whether software patents turn into a legal minefield is going to
> depend on the eventual legal definition of "reasonable efforts" and
> how it scales with the size of the organization. 

I think they already are a legal minefield and getting to be more so.

 - Maciej Stachowiak

-- 
guile -c '(define c call-with-current-continuation)(define(f s)(lambda(o)(let
((n(c(lambda(x)(o x)x))))(let p((n n)(l(string->list s)))(cond((not (null? l)
)(display(car l))(p(c n)(cdr l))))))))((f"Js nte ul akr")(f"utAohrGieHce\n"))'

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From: Maciej Stachowiak <mstachow@mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Software patents
Date: 1998/10/10
Message-ID: <v8wn273u4v7.fsf@m2-032-11.mit.edu>
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