Bradley Kuhn: I Think I Just Got Patented

http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2010/02/02/took-our-jobs.html

by yungchin • 16 years ago

25 16 16 years ago

jacquesm• 16 years ago

That's why we really need to make a stand against software patents.

Waiting until you are personally inconvenienced is the patent equivalent of going through the sequence that ends on 'and when they came for me there was nobody left to stand up for me'.

Software patents are bad, period.

The very few cases where there was merit to a software patent are outweighed massively by the downsides.

FahnRobier• 16 years ago

IANAL, but it looks like he might have a case for prior art, if he published his methods prior to patent being issued.

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/inventing/prior-art/

Still, this puts the burden of proof on the person claiming prior art. I'd like to see a reform of patent law that would make the infringing patent holder responsible for the legal fees for proving the prior art, if it's valid.

That would:

1. Force the potential infringer to do a more rigorous search prior to filing the patent.

2. Gives the person with prior art a little more leverage in negotiations.

Am I misguided?

eru5• 16 years ago

Does the author live in the US? As far as I know e.g. European patent law does require not only prior art but also prior publication.

gridspy3• 16 years ago

Who is going to publish something that they consider obvious?

icey2• 16 years ago

So, let's pretend that Bob the developer has some magic piece of software that does something that nobody else has figured out how to do yet (my verbiage may be incorrect, let's assume that this meets the criteria for a patentable work).

Bob hasn't released this software to the world yet, because he's working on other parts of a larger system.

In this scenario, should Bob consider filing a patent in order to protect his invention (assuming it would get discovered eventually), or is there some way for him to file a record of what his method does so that he doesn't have to worry about someone coming to patent what he's doing out from under him?

(I'm not at all versed in patent law, so I apologize if the answers to this are obvious)

aaronblohowiak2• 16 years ago

There's nothing you can do to prevent someone coming after you. You can only protect yourself if you plan to have the means to actually fight the case. This is one of those areas where an accusation and intent to pursue a fight from a "big dog" can be bad enough to crush the "little guy".

icey2• 16 years ago

Sorry, my point was whether or not Bob should go file for a patent himself.

I get why people call software patents evil, but they seem kind of necessary to protect against bigger companies (at least until the patent system is 'fixed').

decode• 16 years ago

IANAL, but I think many patent lawyers would suggest that Bob consider a provisional patent application. This generally much cheaper to draft and file than a full patent application, it gives you an earlier filing date if you decide to go for a full patent, and makes your invention more likely to show up in a prior art search. You'll still have to invest time, and $2,000-$3,000 dollars, but it will probably give Bob some extra protection against someone else patenting his software.

http://inventors.about.com/od/provisionalpatent/a/Provisiona...

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/patent/provisional-patents/

Bradley Kuhn: I Think I Just Got Patented

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