Really? Do you still think patents are there to protect inventors? (I'll make an effort to keep this on-topic, I promise) See the ClearType, for example. Without entering into whether ClearType was really an improvement, a punctualization, or whatever on the previous Apple II Wozniak patent. Wozniak patent didn't prevent Microsoft from using a similar idea in their ClearType algorithm. That's because of patent portfolios, which really subvert the system upside-down. I can see the point in patenting the very specific algorithm. But not an idea! The very simple idea of `displaying images where data is "mapped" to individual (e.g. LCD) sub-pixels, instead of whole pixels` is patented! [1].

I see the point, however, in that competing products making money from foreign ideas is not fair (with ideas meaning a very detailed process, maybe algorithms would be better worded). They should include a fee for borrowing the idea. But don't we agree that patents, as they currently are, don't quite make sense with FreeSoftware? Who are they going to charge? Joe the User?? I think an exception for FOSS should be made, and not on a case-by-case basis.

I personally think, really, that patents were created with a very laudable purpose. But that logic has long been subverted. And we have to create alternative ways of revenue for creators. I don't know how much we can keep discussing this subject here, but I would be really interested on discussing this topic and sharing points of views with anybody interested.

[1] http://david.freetype.org/cleartype-patents.html

2015-06-11 0:25 GMT+02:00 M. Edward (Ed) Borasky <znmeb@znmeb.net>:
I can't speak for Europe, but in the US Constitution it's fairly clearly stated:

"The Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science
and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and
Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries"

In the case of software the implementation of the law may be
problematic, but still, as an author and inventor I'd want those
rights.

On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 2:21 PM, Alex Puchades <alex94puchades@gmail.com> wrote:
> It seems [1] that there are mixed opinions about the matter. I'll check with
> fedora-legal. In any case, things like this [2][3][4] are really sad.
>
> [1] https://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/swpat.en.html
> [2] http://david.freetype.org/cleartype-patents.html
> [3] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/europes-unitary-patent.html
> [4] http://www.epo.org/news-issues/issues/unitary-patent.html
>
>
> 2015-06-10 20:30 GMT+02:00 Bruno Wolff III <bruno@wolff.to>:
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 19:59:05 +0200,
>>  Ahmad Samir <ahmadsamir3891@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> The funny thing about the MP3 patent expiring is that really MP3 is
>>> going away, and has been going away for some time now; AAC encoded
>>> audio in an MP4 container is becoming more prevalent these days, and
>>> of course AAC is another codec you can't legally add in a distro that
>>> resides in the u.s. .... so it looks like a race, one that Linux is
>>> losing unless users add 3rd party repos that can package those
>>> patent-encumbered codecs; 3rd party repos have a lower risk of getting
>>> sued, since they're individuals and suing them wouldn't bring in that
>>> much money anyway (you need to sue a big wealthy company to justify
>>> the lawyer hourly fees :)), of course IANAL, so don't take my views on
>>> legal matters to heart.
>>
>>
>> Opus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_%28codec%29) has become an
>> important audio codec that doesn't have patent problems.
>>
>> --
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>
>
>
>
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> Álex Puchades
>
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