Software patent question

[Red Squirrel]

Lets say I code some rather large and popular free software, and it happens to infridge on some patent or copyright, can the law still come after me, or will it only come after me if the software is being sold in stores? What about if I code said software but I only use it for myself (but others may have access, ex: a hosting control panel).

If yes, that is really screwed up, considering I can't even provide a free software to public without worrying about possibly getting sued over some patent I'm not even aware of.

The MS word fiasco made me think of this. Word has existed forever and now suddently it's considered an infridgement because someone decided to patent some xml stuff. It's a really botched system.

I plan to code a web host control panel and release it to public, and it would not surprise me if some of the features I plan to put may be patented by say, cpanel or something, but I won't really know that without doing deep searching though all patents which would be VERY time consuming for a free non profit app. That or if cpanel or other company sees mind as a threat they can just patent whatever they want to shut me down, or can they?

 

[Crono]

IF you are distributing the software in any way, I think the patent holder could theoretically come after you.
In reality, most companies wouldn't bother if it's free software, and at most they would ask you to stop first.

 

[nanette1985]

The word is infringe, not infridge (infridge is a great word!)

A patent protects the original idea of the software - you can patent an algorithm, for example. You're patenting the method of your software, how it accomplishes what it does.

You can also copyright your software, the actual lines of code you use.

You can also design patent what the screen looks like when the software is used. (you can copyright that too)

Patent basics: when you get a patent, that means that you have the right to sue somebody that is copying your patent. It is up to YOU to protect your patent - you have to go out and find the people who are infringing. And if you don't, and you sue somebody, all they have to do is point out that so-and-so is also infringing, and the court won't support you. (Massive oversimplification of copyright law, but you get the idea)

So, if you're using someone else's patent, even if you're small, they might go after you so that they are covered.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Originally posted by: princess ida
The word is infringe, not infridge (infridge is a great word!)

A patent protects the original idea of the software - you can patent an algorithm, for example. You're patenting the method of your software, how it accomplishes what it does.

You can also copyright your software, the actual lines of code you use.

You can also design patent what the screen looks like when the software is used. (you can copyright that too)

Patent basics: when you get a patent, that means that you have the right to sue somebody that is copying your patent. It is up to YOU to protect your patent - you have to go out and find the people who are infringing. And if you don't, and you sue somebody, all they have to do is point out that so-and-so is also infringing, and the court won't support you. (Massive oversimplification of copyright law, but you get the idea)

So, if you're using someone else's patent, even if you're small, they might go after you so that they are covered.

Wow that's kind of stupid. I'll probably go ahead and take the chance when I add features to my apps and just deal with the threats as they come. I'm in Canada so they may have less power, but not sure... if a small Canadian company has power over a large US one guessing a big US company would have power over a small Canadian one. Worse comes to worse I'll just use torrents to distribute my software. Kinda sad if it comes to that though. I'm sure stuff like hot moving a website is patented already, which is a feature I want in my cp.

 

[mcmilljb]

Read this - link

He talks about software patents. I don't think the current patent process is properly set up to handle software, and Congress has not addressed that specific issue. The main issue I have with software patents are their attempt to control obvious processes by trying to say they're too novel to be obvious. The link I give you mentions the Amazon One-Click patent, but you can probably think of others. I want them to patent their implementation, not some general process that's broadly defined.