RedHat and software patents

[Alex Hudson]

On Sat, 2002-05-25 at 10:52, Loic Dachary wrote:
> 	Are you aware of these software patent applications ?

I wasn't. It seems the motives for this are (at least partly) defensive.
Taken from Slashdot (I think the ID is genuine), in reply to someone
making the point about defence:

	"Very much so. The situation needs changing badly, but right now it
forces people to play the stupid patent game either for good or for
evil.

	"Expect a formal clarification from the Red Hat folks about this patent
and usage (we didnt think it was news). Expect more patents too. In fact
I've got two applications and I need to finish writing up - which I
wouldn't be doing unless I was *convinced* this was the only way to do
things in the short term, and that generic GPL use would be granted

	Alan"

As the patents stand, I'm pretty sure that they couldn't be filed in
Europe via the EPO, but I could be wrong, I haven't checked them out
that thoroughly.

Sad times indeed.


Alex.
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