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SubjectRe: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux
On 20 Dec, Bob McElrath wrote:
> You guys forget that one of the main reasons for inventing patents in the
> first place is to protect someone who dumps a lot of money into developing
> something. If the "something" they sell based on that is easily reverse
> engineered and copied, then the reverse engineers have the upper hand, and
> always will.

Yeah, but most of the patents that are issued does not cover ideas that
need this kind of protection. I think that maybe 10-100 patents/year
world wide is a figure that is more reasonable. There should IMHO be an
invention whose development cost is in excess of several 100 million USD
to warrant this kind of protection.

> Trade secrets hinder development of new technology. Ideas are rarely "out
> of the blue". More often they are straightforward extrapolations of current
> ideas. By limiting the spread of ideas and information, you slow the growth
> of technology.
Trade secrets hinder the development until they are reverse-engineered,
which, if they that important, will happen in a few month or maybe a few
years, if they are obscure. Parents on the other hand hinder development
until they expire, typically 20 years I think.

/Daniel
--
Do you use MS Mail? If so please note that my email addresses are:
daniel@lillfab.se - Work related. daniel.engstrom@riksnett.no - Private.


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