Woah, software patent news.

[Vadatajs]

http://www.kde.org

 

[JackStorm]

Software patents are foul. They allow greedy people/companys to take peices of code hostage (think SCO) The world would be a much better place without software patents. But as it stands now, software patents will be bought up by people, whos only reason for buying them is to extort money from others. The sooner law makers realize the dangers of SP's in this greedy modern world the better. I for one hope the whole patent idea gets abolished. But at the same time I know the greed of human kind will never allow that.

 

[0roo0roo]

some patents like on video codecs and stuff should be patented though. of course abuse should also be stopped like anything else.

 

[Vadatajs]

Even though this is taking place in Europe, the effects will hit home here in the US. <tinfoilhat>I'll bet microsoft is behind this in some form</tinfoilhat>

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: JackStorm
Software patents are foul. They allow greedy people/companys to take peices of code hostage (think SCO) The world would be a much better place without software patents. But as it stands now, software patents will be bought up by people, whos only reason for buying them is to extort money from others. The sooner law makers realize the dangers of SP's in this greedy modern world the better. I for one hope the whole patent idea gets abolished. But at the same time I know the greed of human kind will never allow that.

GOOD LORD YOU'RE RIGHT!!! The only reason people buy patents is to make money off the royalties! What a screwy system. What kind of sick, demented person would buy something just so they can make money off of it?

Why stop at software patents? Why not extend this to talk about songs, too. I mean, what right do those greedy musicians have to want to be PAID for there work? Books as well. Did you know that the only reason most authors write books is to make money? Greedy, jack@$$ authors! We should round them all up, hogtie them, and burn them in a giant pot of boiling animal fat! When they write a book, they should get a swift kick in the butt, a slice of bread, then thrown back into the basement (chained to a desk) and told to get busy with a sequel.

Yes, the idea for patents was thought up by Lucifer himself. What a horrible world we live in that people want to retain ownership of their own ideas and inventions.

 

[JackStorm]

"What a horrible world we live in that people want to retain ownership of their own ideas and inventions"

heh, well, personaly I don't think a person can/should "OWN" an idea. Think of it this way (and this is just an exemple, no need to get all sarcastic) But what if 2 people came up with an idea/invention at the same time, but person A (someone who doesn't care about his fellow man) were to get to the patent office before person B (mr.do gooder who wants to help people improve their lifes) now lets say person A desides that noone should be allowed to use that invention/idea. Lets say person B want's to use that invention or idea make things better for everyone. But now because someone else ran to patent office first and desided to be an asshole, no one gets to benifit from the positive change that idea/invention might have brought to the world.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people making money off their invention or copyrighting it so others can't blatantly rip them off. But the current patent laws as they are today, tend to be abused alot now a days. People going around geting their hands on ancient patents and using them to extort money from others who might be using technoligy that's in general use.

Oh, and btw, the software patent laws don't help legit programers much. Infact it hinders them, because they would have to go through a buttload of patents to make sure they aren't "infinging" on someonce patent. It's goten to the point where you can't make a piece of code without having worrie about "infinging" on someonce ancient patent which protects some code you might have never seen before.

Oh, and XZeroII, next time, TRY to reduse the amount of sarcasim and borerline flame. We're talking about software patents here. Not copyright, which allows artists to make a living (not that they make much thanks to the publishing companies)

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: XZeroII

Originally posted by: JackStorm
Software patents are foul. They allow greedy people/companys to take peices of code hostage (think SCO) The world would be a much better place without software patents. But as it stands now, software patents will be bought up by people, whos only reason for buying them is to extort money from others. The sooner law makers realize the dangers of SP's in this greedy modern world the better. I for one hope the whole patent idea gets abolished. But at the same time I know the greed of human kind will never allow that.

GOOD LORD YOU'RE RIGHT!!! The only reason people buy patents is to make money off the royalties! What a screwy system. What kind of sick, demented person would buy something just so they can make money off of it?

Why stop at software patents? Why not extend this to talk about songs, too. I mean, what right do those greedy musicians have to want to be PAID for there work? Books as well. Did you know that the only reason most authors write books is to make money? Greedy, jack@$$ authors! We should round them all up, hogtie them, and burn them in a giant pot of boiling animal fat! When they write a book, they should get a swift kick in the butt, a slice of bread, then thrown back into the basement (chained to a desk) and told to get busy with a sequel.

Yes, the idea for patents was thought up by Lucifer himself. What a horrible world we live in that people want to retain ownership of their own ideas and inventions.

You miss the obvious point that snipets of code are more like phrases. It is like getting a patent on the phrase good morning and charging royalties on it. The problem isn't with people wanting to patent the english language, or patent legitimate programs that they created, the problem is them wanting to patent small portions of programs so that others cannot use them without paying. This inhibits the market place of ideas and is detrimental to innovation.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: JackStorm
"What a horrible world we live in that people want to retain ownership of their own ideas and inventions"

heh, well, personaly I don't think a person can/should "OWN" an idea. Think of it this way (and this is just an exemple, no need to get all sarcastic) But what if 2 people came up with an idea/invention at the same time, but person A (someone who doesn't care about his fellow man) were to get to the patent office before person B (mr.do gooder who wants to help people improve their lifes) now lets say person A desides that noone should be allowed to use that invention/idea. Lets say person B want's to use that invention or idea make things better for everyone. But now because someone else ran to patent office first and desided to be an asshole, no one gets to benifit from the positive change that idea/invention might have brought to the world.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people making money off their invention or copyrighting it so others can't blatantly rip them off. But the current patent laws as they are today, tend to be abused alot now a days. People going around geting their hands on ancient patents and using them to extort money from others who might be using technoligy that's in general use.

Oh, and btw, the software patent laws don't help legit programers much. Infact it hinders them, because they would have to go through a buttload of patents to make sure they aren't "infinging" on someonce patent. It's goten to the point where you can't make a piece of code without having worrie about "infinging" on someonce ancient patent which protects some code you might have never seen before.

Oh, and XZeroII, next time, TRY to reduse the amount of sarcasim and borerline flame. We're talking about software patents here. Not copyright, which allows artists to make a living (not that they make much thanks to the publishing companies)

Excesive sarcasm is what makes life worth living

 

[JackStorm]

Hey, I enjoy sarcasm as much as the next guy. Altough I do try to refraim from using it on forums, since someone might always be in a cranky mood and take it the wrong way. Much easier to use sarcasm on irc or IRL. Also, I think I'm alergic to the rolling eye smileys, everytime I see them I see myself as another smiley stabing the rolling eye ones with a rusty spoon. (yeah, I have issues) Anyway, with that being said, let it be known that I don't like software patents (But that should be quite obvious to everyone by now)

 

[Spyro]

I just applied for a software patent on the following code:

int main() {
printf ("Hello World!\n");
return 0;
}

If you use this code in a program I would appreciate it if you would immediately let me know, so that I can sue you. Thank you very much, and have a nice day.