Enforcement of patents (was: Acceptable patent license for free software?)
Ben Finney
bignose+hates-spam at benfinney.id.au
Thu Apr 3 21:52:17 UTC 2008
Simon Josefsson <simon at josefsson.org> writes:
> I agree that it would be better if the license said "for any purpose".
>
> I wonder if that is compatible with the current patent system. Isn't
> there some requirement that you need to protect infringement on your
> patent somehow?
Not true. For example, see any "submarine patent" where the holder
keeps a granted patent quiet for many years and then surfaces only
when some implementation of it is widely accepted.
You may be thinking, instead, of trademark monopolies, which *do*
decay if not enforced by the holder.
--
\ "I'm beginning to think that life is just one long Yoko Ono |
`\ album; no rhyme or reason, just a lot of incoherent shrieks and |
_o__) then it's over." -- Ian Wolff |
Ben Finney
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