US Software Patents

[CBFalconer]

Subject: US court throws out most software patents, John Oram
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:29:43 -0400

John Oram, Microsoft has a problem, *IT Examiner*, 31 Oct 2008

Much of the patent portfolio of some of the world's biggest
software companies has become worthless overnight, thanks to a
ruling yesterday by the US patent court.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in
Washington DC has decided that in the future, instead of
automatically granting a patent for a business practice, there
will be a specific testing procedure to determine how patentable
is that process.

The decision is a nearly complete reversal of the court's
controversial State Street Bank judgment of 1998, which started
the stampede for patenting business practices.

http://www.itexaminer.com/us-court-throws-out-most-software-patents.aspx
http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/07-1130.pdf

I found the above in comp.risks today.

F'ups set to comp.programming

 

[Eric Sosman]

> [... concerning tools to assist C programmers ...]
> Look for a cross-reference tool that can scan a herd of files,
> [...]
> This is OT on c.l.c, and I don't know what group to recommend.

Subject: US court throws out most software patents, John Oram

[...]
I found the above in comp.risks today.

Which is the real Chuck Falconer, and which is the impostor?

 

[Kenny McCormack]

[... concerning tools to assist C programmers ...]
Look for a cross-reference tool that can scan a herd of files,
[...]
This is OT on c.l.c, and I don't know what group to recommend.

Subject: US court throws out most software patents, John Oram

[...]
I found the above in comp.risks today.

Which is the real Chuck Falconer, and which is the impostor?

IDWIYO

But seriously, there has always been a different set of rules for the
regs than for the newbs (i.e., the ones the regs get their jollies from
beating up upon). If the regs want to talk about whatever they want to
talk about, we are all supposed to go along, because, well, they are
entitled. Of this, there is no doubt nor any question in any quarter.

The problem is that Chuck's reg-status has come under doubt as of late.
That's why people like Eric and Keith feel free to beat up on him.
It makes for interesting reading, for sure.

 

[David Brown]

I found the above in comp.risks today.

F'ups set to comp.programming

(F'ups corrected - if a post is relevant to three groups, then the
followups are also relevant until you have meandering and off-topic
subthreads.)

This is good news for most software developers. Modern American use of
patents, especially software patents, is totally against the principles
for which the patent scheme was invented (it was to give small inventors
some protection against large competitors, so that the small inventor
could publish information without fear of competitors freely copying him
and undercutting his prices - they would have to pay a licence fee so
that the inventor gets his fair dues, while the invention can be quickly
mass produced).

It will hopefully put a quick end to some companies' practice of
patenting every little software idea. But will it lead to invalidation
of existing meritless patents?


I'm in two minds about Halliburton's latest patent application:

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/10/halliburton_patent/>

If they use it to sue patent trolls out of business, then it would be a
good thing for the rest of us!

 

[Chris H]

Hopefully good news.

I'm in two minds about Halliburton's latest patent application:

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/10/halliburton_patent/>

There is a mistake in the piece.

"Halliburton - the Texas-based company famous for pocketing billions
from the war in Iraq "

Actually as of last year Haliburton relocated to a Middle Eastern
country that does not have extradition to the USA... It still has the
Texas "joint HQ" office but all the money and power has transferred out
of the US to the new HQ in the ME . As have all their top people.

BTW apparently G W Bush bought a nice new ranch to retire to.... in
Paraguay another country that does not have extradition to the USA

Some people saw the writing on the wall and got out before the US
crash....

I think most of the top people in Bush's war on terror and Iraq and Iran
and Syria and Afghanistan and N-Korea and Russia and.... can get out of
the US with 90% of their very large assets in less than 6 hours.

 

[CBFalconer]

Hopefully good news.


There is a mistake in the piece.

"Halliburton - the Texas-based company famous for pocketing billions
from the war in Iraq "

Actually as of last year Haliburton relocated to a Middle Eastern
country that does not have extradition to the USA... It still has the
Texas "joint HQ" office but all the money and power has transferred
out of the US to the new HQ in the ME . As have all their top people.

BTW apparently G W Bush bought a nice new ranch to retire to.... in
Paraguay another country that does not have extradition to the USA

Some people saw the writing on the wall and got out before the US
crash....

I think most of the top people in Bush's war on terror and Iraq and
Iran and Syria and Afghanistan and N-Korea and Russia and.... can get
out of the US with 90% of their very large assets in less than 6 hours.

This is the sort of off-topic (and probable nonsense) that I wanted
to avoid by setting follow-ups on the original.

 

[Flash Gordon]

CBFalconer wrote, On 11/11/08 21:02:

This is the sort of off-topic (and probable nonsense) that I wanted
to avoid by setting follow-ups on the original.

It would have been far simpler and better for you to have NOT
cross-posted it to comp.lang.c. This would have avoided the original
off-topic post as well as the off-topic follow-ups.

 

[CBFalconer]

CBFalconer wrote:



It would have been far simpler and better for you to have NOT
cross-posted it to comp.lang.c. This would have avoided the
original off-topic post as well as the off-topic follow-ups.

I gather you do not think C programmers are interested in the
status of US software patents?

 

[Keith Thompson]

I gather you do not think C programmers are interested in the
status of US software patents?

C programmers are interested in a lot of things that are not C.

How many times have you made that point yourself? Sheesh.

 

[Chris H]

I gather you do not think C programmers are interested in the
status of US software patents?

To be honest they are irrelevant outside the USA and most of the world
is outside the USA

However it does have an effect on the global SW patents scene

 

[Flash Gordon]

Keith Thompson wrote, On 12/11/08 05:33:

C programmers are interested in a lot of things that are not C.

Also I suspect that most people who read comp.lang.c also obtain
information from other places. I know that I read groups where the
original post would have been entirely acceptable and could have
generated an interesting and topical discussion.

In any case, the SW company I work for does not deal with the US so no,
it does not have any impact on me as a C programmer.

How many times have you made that point yourself? Sheesh.

Agreed.