Jonathon, just for the sake of accuracy (Ordnung muß sein), It wasn't I who advocated patenting ideas, a procedure which I find repugnant and a perversion of the entire patent process. To my mind, the idea of software patents is absurd, and specifically prohibited by the mathematical algorithms clause of existing patent legislation. Challenging (software) patents is an excellent idea (please don't patent it !), but I fear that the «Open source community» hardly possesses the resources required. And in any event, these scarce resources are probably better used to develop software than to pay lawyers....
Henri <snip>
Henri wrote: >big boys apply for a patent for their idea, as well as every conceivable variation on that theme. We should do the same. It would be far better for mankind if the Open source community challenged each and every patent that was granted by the USPTO. Make the people applying for a patent _prove_ that their patent is both unobvious, and not based upon prior art. The patents to start invalidating are those that are held by organizations whose sole business plan is to sue the rest of oblivion. xan jonathon
