I think once upon a time it helped - but now if you claim ignorance of existing patents too loudly it probably makes you look more guilty to the judge.
On Aug 16, 5:46 pm, Steven Herod <[email protected]> wrote: > Oh, I'm not disputing the stupidity of patents. I mean, I think if > you independently discover the same solution, there shouldn't be a > case to answer. > > But *if* Google knowingly infringed then... well... do people view it > differently? > > If Google had infringed on a "Little Guys" patent, thus robbing them > of a future... would people view it differently? > > I've thought about the lawsuit I've eventually come to the conclusion > this doesn't effect me personally in the near or medium term. If they > want to throw money at lawyers, that's their issue. Let the > billionaires have their little windmills. > > On Aug 16, 5:39 pm, B Smith-Mannschott <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 09:27, Steven Herod <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Out of curiosity, in all of this, we're absolutely certain no former > > > Sun engineers, fresh from patenting a concept at Sun (or working on > > > said patented code) moved to Google and reimplemented the same thing > > > the same way? > > > This is irrelevant. That's the beauty of patents. Google could have > > imported engineers from Mars with no prior knowledge of any VM > > implementation techniques. If they independently came to the solutions > > covered by Oracle's patents, they'd still have to pay. > > > So, boys and girls, before you write your next line of code, make sure > > to consult all potentially relevant patent registries. Ignorance is > > no defense. The fact that patents are written in impenetrable legalese > > is no defense. The fact that it's often unclear if a patent even > > applies until it's been tested in court is no defense. The fact that > > testing said patent in court costs more than most mortals can afford > > is also no defense. Happy hacking! > > > (Software patents make me grumpy.) > > > // Ben -- 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.
