Hi Dave,
There are various ways of looking at this. Although it may seem
ridiculous that you can't develop any technology you wish, the flip
side is that many inventions would never be produced if, after years
of hard work, the inventor's creations could be easily copied and
exploited by others. Patent laws are supposed to allow the inventor
to reap the profits of his or her work for a certain number of years.
If you use someone's patented idea, even without being aware you're
doing so, then you're violating their patent right and they can
legally come after you. Whether you're using someone else's idea
might be pretty obvious or it might be a very subtle issue, which is
why patent litigation can take years to resolve. Whether they come
after you will probably depend on how aggressive they are in
enforcing their rights, how clear or vague the violation is, and how
deep your pockets are (why sue someone who's broke?).
[Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and the above is a lay interpretation
of information I have gleaned from lawyers and other sources.]
Best wishes,
Marc
At 01:25 PM 1/2/2008, you wrote:
Question - as a software developer, are we free to create anything
we want if we use our own, from scratch, code? For instance, we
created a Flash based Virtual Makeover application a couple years
back. We may make a new one for a new client but our old client has
issue. Evidently they "invented" this makeover system, and even have
a patent: http://tinyurl.com/2yxj8v
But there are other examples of such systems. Maybe they're not
identical, but the good ones work much the same. To me, it's utterly
ridiculos that I could be stopped from writing any kind of software.
I could make a Riven clone called Raven if I wanted, couldn't I?
Anyone have any input?
Dave -
Head Developer
http://www.blurredistinction.com
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/
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