[Fsfe-ie] patents letter stuff

Fergal Daly fergal at esatclear.ie
Thu Jan 15 00:13:16 CET 2004


I've been meaning to find a reference for that quote for ages and here it is

http://quote.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates

"If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's 
ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a 
complete standstill today."

Source: "Challenges and Strategy" memo dated May 16, 1991.

The quote on that page is longer but that's the important bit. Could be a good 
one to include in the letter,

F


On Wednesday 14 January 2004 22:54, Justin Mason wrote:
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> Fergal Daly writes:
> >On Wednesday 14 January 2004 22:08, Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:
> >> I'd like to be able to point out that all software innovations that have
> >> pushed society forward, are patent-free.  So what other examples are 
there?
> >
> >The classic example is the spreadsheet "if visicalc had patented..." this 
also 
> >applies to the word processor.
> 
> There's a page for that.  google Dan Bricklin patents and he discusses it
> in detail.
> 
> Also I seem to recall a good quote from Bill Gates -- made before they
> decided to go patent-crazy ;)
> 
> - --j.
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