On 2/8/08 Nick Guenther wrote:
[snip]
>> I really hope that OpenMoko will not be covered by any patents.
(but I'm
>> > > sure that there's a patent for a device allowing wireless
communication
>> > > somewhere)
> >
> > I totally agree with Lionel here. It will be bad PR wise and it's
very difficult to
> > enforce. Openmoko hardware and software are already covered by
copyright, and I think a
> > patent doesn't add any protection. Even if parts will be covered
by a patent, chances
> > are that some smart company can circumvent it by making small
changes/improvements.
> >
> > Besides, what's there to patent? If I understand correctly,
anything that's published
> > (or available publicly) before the patent cannot be patented
anymore, so that would
> > include all openmoko software up to today, the CAD design for the
casing, ideas on the
> > wiki etc.
I normally don't like to add too much noise here, but I really
strongly must echo this sentiment. Why is a free software company
patenting anything?
You should think of OpenMoko as a product company. We build our own
software AND hardware. Free Software is only one ingredent in a very
large picture of what it means to make open mobile devices. Our freeing
of the case CAD files is not software (per say). In the future you will
see a lot more. We don't believe software is only place people need
openness.
Isn't everything in Openmoko supposed to be
already open?
I'm not sure I understand this sentence correctly. Anything we do is
open when we open it. But products don't get created out of thin air.
GTA02 is amost year in a making.
Is there really any judge in the world who would believe
that anything you've done constitutes enough new work to be
patentable?
I hope so ;-)
Forgive my ignorance if that's what it is, but I was under
the impression that the sole purpose of OpenMoko was to build an open
phone, not to invent anything new (and in fact, to rely on old and
well known components for stability).
Yes this is mistaken. We try to always build stuff that is new. All of
our hardware designs, for example, are built from scratch. We do not use
reference designs.
We want to push the future of open mobile devices. Not (just) use what
already exists. This puts us in a situation very real to the patent
world. We cannot (as much as we'd like to) ignore it and hope things
will magically go away. Nor do I want to spend our efforts reforming
another system. Everyone only has a limited amount of time. Ours is
focused on freeing the phone. And then exploring what that means.
Sean
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