Good news on patents, particularly crypto patents.
The CAFC, the US patent court, has recently ruled that the patent holder
cannot hit you with punitive damages unless, on the preponderance of the
evidence, you were objectively reckless - that you knew or strongly
suspected you were violating the patent.
By and large, the remaining crypto patents are canned uncertainty and
doubt, intended to muddy the water, patenting everything, anything, and
nothing. This previously worked in favor of the patent holder, but now
it works against the patent holder.
The way it now works is that if you have an arguable case that you are
not in violation of the patent, you can barge right ahead and wait for
the patent holder to spend many millions of dollars and many years in
court to clarify the situation. Don't hold your breath.
This also negates the Microsoft tactic "If you use linux, you are
violating our patents, but we will not tell you what patents you are
violating, or what aspect of linux violates them". Now, genuine
uncertainty works *against* the patent holder.
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