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Ask HN: What are some examples of software patents used for good?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some examples of software patents used for good?

#11

Post by Natsu »

sliverstorm wrote: post #9

Honestly (and depressingly) I think the best examples of software patents used for good are the software patents written to protect from exploitation... by the software patent system - i.e. Creative Commons, GPLv2, BSD Licence, ...

The GPL, BSD, etc. licenses are licenses, not software patents.

I can't think of a good software patent. It's not a software patent, but there was IBM's attempt to patent patent trolling which was a rather keen bit of legal satire. I think it actually failed in the face of all that prior art, but I might be confusing that patent application with another one.

Re: Ask HN: What are some examples of software patents used for good?

#12

Post by tzs »

It's an interesting question, but of the several responses so far the only one that actually tried to provide an example is getting voted down. My guess is that is going to happen to any answer that provides any example of a software patent being used for good is going to get a bunch of down votes, making any discussion pointless.

Re: Ask HN: What are some examples of software patents used for good?

#13

Post by Palomides »

sliverstorm wrote: post #9

Honestly (and depressingly) I think the best examples of software patents used for good are the software patents written to protect from exploitation... by the software patent system - i.e. Creative Commons, GPLv2, BSD Licence, ...

these are hacks as such on the copyright system, not the patent system

Re: Ask HN: What are some examples of software patents used for good?

#17

Post by shii »

sliverstorm wrote: post #8
shii wrote: post #7

Redhat?

Redhat does not rely on patents or licencing. I wouldn't even be surprised if they did not hold a single patent.

Are you insane? Redhat has tons of patents. They have a position of not offensively using these patents against the community, "a promise" as it was termed when I took a tour of their North Carolina facilities a few years ago. Here[1] is a link to their patent policy and reasoning behind it.

[1] http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html

Re: Ask HN: What are some examples of software patents used for good?

#19

Post by aristidb »

tzs wrote: post #12

It's an interesting question, but of the several responses so far the only one that actually tried to provide an example is getting voted down. My guess is that is going to happen to any answer that provides any example of a software patent being used for good is going to get a bunch of down votes, making any discussion pointless.

Do you mean _delirium's response? That one seems to be solidly in the black by now.
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