--On 31. mai 2002 07:54 -0600 Vernon Schryver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>>
>> I guess what I was asking was how the IETF would feel about an
>> organization grabbing a patent on an algorithm and using it the same way
>> the GNU crew uses copyright on source code. (Remember - the GNU
>> copyright only works for *code* - since algorithms can be (at least in
>> the US) patented but not copyrighted, you'd have to do a similar stunt
>> with a patent).
>>
>> (And yes, this would be a case of "the Good Guys file a bull-manure
>> patent to pre-empt the Evil Guys from filing a bull-manure patent" - but
>> until the Patent Office gets their act together we're stuck with borked
>> software patents that are invalid due to prior art, etc....)
>
> In theory that could happen. It may have happened in practice with
> the Ethernet patent. But what's the point? What is gained by
> winning such a patent from government(s) compared to publishing
> the same document, other than a year or three of jumping through
> hoops and plenty of money and hassles?
the only advantage I could see is that the only prior-arts database the
patent offices are REQUIRED to search is the database of old patents.
