>If you come up with an idea, blissfully unaware that there is a patent on >it. How can that patent be valid?
because that's how patents work. first-to-file, first-to-publish, all that stuff. all that's need (in the US at least) is for a patent examiner is to agree that the patent claims are non-obvious to a person skilled in the (relevant) art(s). >Bottom line, screw them and their patent. Let them send their lawyers >after you, who cares. their lawyers could potentially bankrupt you if what you were doing represented a threat to the income they expected to derive from the patent. if thats OK with you, please go ahead and violate the patent. >anyway, a real programmer wouldn't give a stuff and write the code >anyway.. =) real programmers write the code and then discover the patent yes. then they are puzzled and don't know what to do. > What are we, patent fearing wimps or real men? real people with real lives that are threatened by breaking the law, and unsure of the value of doing so given the threat. --p
