brainstorming

[Benjamin Rossen]

Reality cannot permit us the luxury of taking dogmatic RMS like positions on 
this matter. If software patents are being given, and are being honored in 
courts, then they are as real as conventions can possibly get. 

And it is my position that if some people have software patents, then everyone 
must have them (or at least have an exchange medium of some kind that gives 
an even playing field for those electing not to claim patents). 

On Friday 14 January 2005 20:12, Thorsten Glaser wrote:
> Benjamin Rossen dixit:
> 
> [ Swapping patents ]
> >That is the problem. 
> 
> No. Swapping patents for Sony and Philips is not a problem, because
> they are patents on actual technical stuff.
> 
> The problem is that people still think that such a thing like
> "software patents" or "patents on computer-implementable
> inventions" (or business models or data structures, for that
> matter) _exists_. It should not, and the more people start to
> deal with it, the less people will fight against it.
> 
> Huh, I hope I didn't sound too RMS-ish ;)
> 
> bye,
> //mirabile
>