Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 20 Dec 1998 13:52:28 -0800 (PST) | From | George Bonser <> | Subject | Re: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux |
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On Sun, 20 Dec 1998, Alan Cox wrote:
> > to put it into the public domain after X years expired. A patent at least > > makes sure that the details are shared with the common community after a > > period of exclusive use by the inventor. Without patents, there would be a > > great many more trade secrets. > > _used to_. There is now an entire profession of writing patents in such > a way that even when they expire you cannot possibly reconstruct what they > were on about in full. >
Well, then. Maybe what the world needs is a new kind of patent. Maybe there should be something like a GNU Prior Art Registry where a technique can be registered (for a fee which is used to maintain the registry) and is freely redistributable in Free code but would require a royalty for non-GPL use. This protects the inventor from exploitation yet allows one to share an idea with the community and also prevents something from being patented by someone else. It would provide a standard method of registration that should be able to hold up in court if someone tries to patent the concept later.
If you use the code in a product in GPL code, it is OK. If you use the product in code with a license that does not meet the GPL, you must pay a royalty to the inventor.
George Bonser
The Linux "We're never going out of business" sale at an FTP site near you!
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