I am firmly opposed to software patents. Whether IBM will prevail in its patent infringement assertions is a big question.
Personally, I would like to see a court invalidate all software patents. However, I remain committed to my belief that IBM will prevail in its assertion that PSI violated the terms of the IBM licensing agreement. Of course, PSI could attempt to make a case that the IBM licensing agreement is invalid on its face in that it is anticompetitive in that it effectively prohibits Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation. It is hard to judge how a court might view such an assertion. In any case, I doubt that PSI has sufficiently deep pockets to wage such a case to its ultimate conclusion. Whatever happens, it will be interesting to watch. John P Baker Software Engineer > Please remember that the US Patent office also granted a patent for the > blinking cursor, because it utilized an innovative non-obvious application > of the mathematical exclusive-OR concept. > > I patented a data compression process, and I saw how the sausage was made > at the patent office. For many reasons, I think patenting software is a > very bad idea. I think copyright protections are stronger and easier to > enforce. Software patents are mostly for Public Relations and marketing. > > Anyone adequately educated in the art of software development could invent > most of the patented software processes. A developer's only limiting > reason > is motivation. Necessity is the mother of invention. Unfortunately, most > of > the patent reviewers are not well-versed in commercial software > development. > What seems innovation and non-obvious to them is quite the opposite to > real > software developers that write code for a living. > > Just-In-Time (JIT) code translation is everywhere and it has been around > for a long time. Translating copyrighted software from one executable form > into another (transient) executable form without exposing the target form > to > the outside world doesn't dilute the value of that software, IMHO. I think > there is viable adversarial battle, and shining a bright light on both > parties can only help the mainframe market. > > Jeffrey D. Smith > Principal Product Architect > Farsight Systems Corporation > 700 KEN PRATT BLVD. #204-159 > LONGMONT, CO 80501-6452 > 303-774-9381 direct > 303-484-6170 FAX > http://www.farsight-systems.com/ > comments are invited on my encryption project ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
