On 12 Dec 2008, at 23:41, Conan C. Albrecht wrote:
IANAL, but in my watching of open source projects for many years, if
you have prior work to the patent, you're fine. If they decide to
sue you, you can just show that your project predates the patent.
This one was filed in 2007, so I think things like appscript are
fine. (does appscript predate June 8, 2007?) Again, I'm not a
lawyer.
Don't worry, IANAL either.:) Anyway, appscript first appeared in 2003.
Ditto aeve, which also used SB-style dynamic class creation to build
its API. Come to think of it, Apple's open-source RubyOSA project
pretty much copies SB's approach throughout, even down to its semi-
automatic 'implicit get' mechanism. Given that RubyOSA was originally
released in summer 2006 I wonder if it also counts as invalidating
prior art?
I guess the next questions are:
- The link I found appears to be for a patent application rather than
an awarded patent. (I found the direct link first, but subsequently
went to the site's search page and searched for it under both
applications and awards, and found it again under the former.) Have I
understood the uspto.gov website correctly? (It is not the easiest
thing to follow.)
- If it is only an application, and not yet awarded, does its
appearance on the site mean its currently up for consideration, and if
it is how long does that take?
- Should I pt together a bunch of prior art and send it off to the
USPTO before it stops being a application and starts being awarded?
When it comes to software patents, 99 percent of them are bunk. I
agree that patents are necessary to let new ideas flourish, but the
concept has gone way too far. And especially so in computers.
People should get 2-3 years on any patent to give them time to move
ahead of the competition. After that, it should be fair game.
Totally agree. FWIW, I don't for a moment suspect malicious intent in
Apple's filing of this application; may be habitual (everyone does
it), may be opportunism (holding lots of patents looks good to
investors), may be to prevent patent trolls filing a similar claim and
suing them first; may be any number of reasons. All the same, it's the
first time I've found myself and m work in such a position and it
makes me distinctly uncomfortable. I also have appscript's users -
including my own employer - to consider. Patents don't need to be
enforced to have a chilling effect (e.g. watch Microsoft claiming that
Linux infringes its patents while refusing to specify which ones).
OTOH, it may just be that my neuroses are kicking in, and I just need
to relax and not worry so much.
Check out this web site on the topic: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Osapa
That looks useful - will do.
Many thanks,
has
--
Control AppleScriptable applications from Python, Ruby and ObjC:
http://appscript.sourceforge.net
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