I have to use this argument in traffic court so now and then :-)
"Sorry officer. I thought that the speed limit is just a suggestion. I
didn't know it was a law that you shouldn't break. Can i have a lower
fine, now?"

:-)  (scratching my head).

Isn't it in favor for a company to have their employees know about
patents so that they can avoid expensive law-suits? Trying to
deliberately avoid any inquiry to whether a patent is already granted
to others or not seems to be counterproductive and border-line
'illegal'.

But then again, i'm not a lawyer either and I don't play one on TV,
YouTube or Hulu.

On Jul 14, 3:48 pm, Jean-Baptiste Queru <[email protected]> wrote:
> As I understand, in the US, if a court finds you in violation of a
> patent, damages can be much higher if you actually knew about the
> patent. Once again I'm not a lawyer, and I don't even play one on TV.
>
> JBQ
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Incognito<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > So why is it not wise to talk about patents? What is the exact law 
> > prohibiting this? Trying to make sense of this?
>
> > On Jul 14, 2009, at 2:42 PM, Mark Murphy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Al Sutton wrote:
> > They alternative is what HTC, Nokia, etc. do, which is to base yourself
> > outside the US so you can sell fully functional units to anyone not in
> > the US and take part in discussions about any software/hardware concept
> > you want.
>
> > Agreed. While unfortunate, Google's policy is standard fare for many
> > US-based tech firms, particularly larger ones (e.g., ones with in-house
> > legal counsel). I've heard the same policy stated at a wide range of
> > firms, mostly "name brands".
>
> > this is hardly the position a company that claims to be open should take.
>
> > Open versus closed has little to do with it. Being a large target and a
> > magnet for patent suits does.
>
> > Of course, it would be lovely if a Google-sized enterprise would take a
> > shot at getting some of these things declared unconstitutional through
> > the courts, but we can't exactly blame them if they elect to eschew such
> > a strategy.
>
> > it doesn't strike me as logical that a google android engineer is given an
> > incentive not to participate in discussions on a google android forum.
>
> > You are welcome to petition your Congressperson, if applicable, to have
> > the laws amended. Or, donate to a cause that tries to minimize the
> > impact of software patents (e.g., EFF).
>
> > --
> > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
> >http://commonsware.com|http://twitter.com/commonsguy
>
> > Android App Developer Books:http://commonsware.com/books.html
>
> --
> Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru
> Android Engineer, Google.
>
> Questions sent directly to me that have no reason for being private
> will likely get ignored or forwarded to a public forum with no further
> warning.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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