[Mageia-dev] Mirror layout

Fri Dec 17 04:53:58 CET 2010

Romain d'Alverny a écrit :
+>
+> Le 13 déc. 2010 à 13:50, Philippe DIDIER<philippedidier at laposte.net>  a écrit :
+>> The creator of a software can be prosecuted on the basis of patents even
+>> if they were registered later !!!!
+>
+> Of course, nothing new here.
+>
+> That does not, however, prove that the motive of the prosecution (hence the prosecution itself) is valid.
+>
+> Because of unprecise/unvalid registration, prior art, fuzzy/broken status of software patents in the EU, or other reason that would have to be demonstrated during a trial.
+>
+> So whatever you do, as soon as you publish/release some "hot" technology, you have to be aware of the environment; it is a matter of risk management, and of provisioning the means for such a trial (legal counselling, money, communication, disclosure), should it happen (that is, should it be reasonably worth it for someone to initiate).
+>
+> Cheers,
+>
+> Romain
+
+An additional problem with patents, which are supposed to protect 
+techniques or methods developped by the patenter, it that they are 
+issued after searches for conflicting patents, but not after verifying 
+the existance of prior art, or even that the technique/method actually 
+works.
+(At least that is how it works in the U.S./Canada.)
+Patents are not supposed to cover logic as such.
+Which becomes problematic with software, which is basically logic 
+fashioned into algorithms, to accomplish some task.
+Which is why countries such as Canada don't issue patents for software.
+And why most software patents will not be enforceable, even where they 
+do exist.
+
+Note also that even an enforceable software patent only gives the patent 
+holder a civil right to demand compensation for the use of the methods 
+of the patent.  A patent holder is not required to demand such 
+compensation, and in many cases, it will not be in their interest to do so.
+Such as free/open source software where there is no opportunity to 
+collect royalties, and where engaging pursuits against such usage will 
+likely lead to the development of alternate solutions, which lessen the 
+chance of collecting royalties from other users.
+
+my 2 cents :)
+
+André
+
+