On Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:17:36 +0000, juan wrote:
>Hi !
>
>About patent.
>
>Spanish laws, I think it should be similar in other countries, DON T
>allow a program to be pantented. Only if they are part of another
>patent,
>wich should include some especifications, something material....
Sorry, but Spanish law and US law are *completely* different.
In the US, you can have a patent on a 100% software algorithm. For example,
there is a patent on the algorithm used to compress GIF graphics. No matter
how you code it, if you implement a program capable of generating GIF files,
you've violated the patent. NO MATTER WHAT YOUR IMPLEMENTATION IS. Merely
writing code that uses that algorithm (not program instructions, but the
mere idea of function) violates the patent.
>An aplication can be protected by intelectual property but this allows
>an user to study or to copy the way it works or its interface.
That's copyright law. Copyright law protects an exact implementation. If
GIF was protected by a copyright, you just couldn't use the exact
instructions that Unisys used. But it's more than copyrighted. It's
patented. There is absolutely NO legal way of creating GIF graphics that
does not violate Unisys' patents.
That's just how US patents work. Any patents that VMware may be able to get
will work *exactly* the same way.
Tim Massey
