Finally got around to writing a few notes on the whole patent thing. I've been watching (as I imagine we all have) as software patents in the US have flourished, as have the patent troll companies. Now it appears to be turning into all-out war in the mobile space and I think it is safe to say that it is going to be very difficult to work out who will come out a winner and who will come out a loser.
First off I agree with the original idea behind patents - to protect inventions. If somebody patents something then it should be their right to keep it to themselves, like it or not. My personal view is that patents are inappropriate for software, and that patent trolling needs to be kerbed. On the trolling front it might be simple enough to say that a patent must be exercised in a commercial product, or licenced to a third party, within a relatively short period of time (for example two years) otherwise it becomes expired and anyone is allowed to use it. For genuine companies, large and small, this should not be a problem. Additionally, if a patent is licensed to a third party then perhaps it should automatically become available, on similar terms, to other third parties. Software patents are IMHO just plain wrong. I've been trying to work out what makes a software 'invention' different to a physical one because I'm conscious this is a very hard argument to defend. I think in the main it is because of the whole concept of 'copying'. It's easy to copy a physical object, to pull it apart, steal its secrets and make your own. With software it is harder to do this (not impossible) and very time consuming - particularly with the obfuscation tools that are available. I've worked in software development for over 20 years and at no time has anybody ever said "you know what, the easiest way to improve our product is to pull apart our rival's" - it is just too time consuming and development shops just don't work that way. Only if you have access to original source code can you get a tangible benefit. Generally speaking people look at a higher level - what features does your rival have, how can you support the same. My feeling on things like multitouch is that the thing that is patentable is the mechanism that allows you to detect and track multiple touch points. The actual gestures themselves are not an invention per se, they are simply an application of being able to detect patterns of touch on the surface. Phil. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
