On Thu, 2008-01-17 at 15:17 +0000, Free Gamer wrote:
It's ridiculous that you can patent a gameplay style. In any
other
western country that patent would not be granted.
Not abusing trademarks is one thing, but being forced to tip toe
around issues like incredulous patents is a slap in the face. So,
only that company is allowed to make that type of game, a style that's
been around for decades before them?
Yes, I agree, it is ridiculous. However, these are the times in which we
live, and Red Hat has decided to not take a risk around this patent set.
The owner of this particular patent is aggressively licensing it to
other people, so they see a huge value in it, and would likely go out of
their way to defend its use (especially against an entity with plenty of
money in the bank).
~spot