--On 31. mai 2002 07:54 -0600 Vernon Schryver <vjs(_at_)calcite(_dot_)rhyolite(_dot_)com>
wrote:
I guess what I was asking was how the IETF would feel about an
organization grabbing a patent on an algorithm and using it the same way
the GNU crew uses copyright on source code. (Remember - the GNU
copyright only works for *code* - since algorithms can be (at least in
the US) patented but not copyrighted, you'd have to do a similar stunt
with a patent).
(And yes, this would be a case of "the Good Guys file a bull-manure
patent to pre-empt the Evil Guys from filing a bull-manure patent" - but
until the Patent Office gets their act together we're stuck with borked
software patents that are invalid due to prior art, etc....)
In theory that could happen. It may have happened in practice with
the Ethernet patent. But what's the point? What is gained by
winning such a patent from government(s) compared to publishing
the same document, other than a year or three of jumping through
hoops and plenty of money and hassles?
the only advantage I could see is that the only prior-arts database the
patent offices are REQUIRED to search is the database of old patents.