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Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

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Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#81

Post by ortusdux »

maratd wrote: post #75
luriel wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is anyone actually arguing at this point that our current patent regime is accomplishing this end? All through history patents have always hindered innovation and progress, and there is plenty of research to back this up: http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.h... I think it should be obvious by now for anyone that we are well past the point where the system is fixable, the only solution is to…

Nice sentiment. I share it. It's also a waste of breath. > trolls, oligopolies and lawyers Every member of that group is well funded, highly connected, and very aggressive. They are ready to devote untold resources to crush your sentiment and should that fail, to redirect your reform efforts into a more palatable outcome. Every piece of legislation is a compromise between competing interests and their competing inter…

Step one: variable patent lengths.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#82

Post by andreasvc »

icelancer wrote: post #57
andreasvc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think it is because they supposedly don't understand technology? I've read that they are simply particularly "sympathetic" to patents over there, which is why there are a host of patent trolls / NPEs that have their mail address over there. This American Life had a good episode about it.

A close friend of mine defends major smartphone companies as well as other tech companies. He's told me the average presiding judge has no idea how to connect to the Internet, much less understand JPG compression (an actual case my friend worked on). It's probably both.

I don't think the judges over there are substantially more ignorant about technology than the average judge in Kentucky or Montana, etc. They can call in experts to advise on technical questions. I'm afraid technical knowledge wouldn't help much, they have this cottage industry of patent lawsuits and they'd probably prefer things to stay as they are.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#83

Post by diminish »

maratd wrote: post #75
luriel wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is anyone actually arguing at this point that our current patent regime is accomplishing this end? All through history patents have always hindered innovation and progress, and there is plenty of research to back this up: http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.h... I think it should be obvious by now for anyone that we are well past the point where the system is fixable, the only solution is to…

Nice sentiment. I share it. It's also a waste of breath. > trolls, oligopolies and lawyers Every member of that group is well funded, highly connected, and very aggressive. They are ready to devote untold resources to crush your sentiment and should that fail, to redirect your reform efforts into a more palatable outcome. Every piece of legislation is a compromise between competing interests and their competing inter…

Apple -a beloved public fetish - and its patent wins have paved the way for the attack of the patent empires and rogue states, in broader public opinion. Forget abolishing patents, I would expect more litigations and monetization attempts from software patent holders and a more proprietary, closed world for a decade or so; till the heritage of the "new Apple" erodes.

++@betterth Because Apple is more positively perceived by media, lawmakers and general public in comparison to unnamed companies which are quickly named as "trolls", Apple's patent wins created more sympathy towards patents. By "paved the way" I just mean that, in public opinion, patents are justified, because people think "Apple deserves to sue others, so patents must be good".

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#84

Post by jethroalias97 »

maratd wrote: post #75
luriel wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is anyone actually arguing at this point that our current patent regime is accomplishing this end? All through history patents have always hindered innovation and progress, and there is plenty of research to back this up: http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.h... I think it should be obvious by now for anyone that we are well past the point where the system is fixable, the only solution is to…

Nice sentiment. I share it. It's also a waste of breath. > trolls, oligopolies and lawyers Every member of that group is well funded, highly connected, and very aggressive. They are ready to devote untold resources to crush your sentiment and should that fail, to redirect your reform efforts into a more palatable outcome. Every piece of legislation is a compromise between competing interests and their competing inter…

Unfortunately, restrictions and bureaucracy tend to just favor lawyers who can charge higher to dig through it.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#85

Post by hk_kh »

From their site[1]:

About

PersonalWeb owns 15 fundamental pending and issued patents and a sophisticated Natural Language Processing Engine used in developing its products and services[2].

All of it is full of similar gems.

[1]: http://www.personalweb.com/About.html

[2]: Products as: https://www.studypods.com/ ...

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#86

Post by lutze »

shreyansj wrote: post #54
ktizo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From having a read through the claims of - 6415280: Identifying and Requesting Data in Network Using Identifiers Which Are Based On Contents of Data. - It appears they have patented using hashes as identifiers for the data that is hashed. Which is a bit like patenting the use of a shovel for digging.

Perhaps someone should file a patent for assigning values to a variable!

You think someone hasn't done this already?

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#87

Post by maratd »

jethroalias97 wrote: post #84
maratd wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice sentiment. I share it. It's also a waste of breath. > trolls, oligopolies and lawyers Every member of that group is well funded, highly connected, and very aggressive. They are ready to devote untold resources to crush your sentiment and should that fail, to redirect your reform efforts into a more palatable outcome. Every piece of legislation is a compromise between competing interests and their competing inter…

Unfortunately, restrictions and bureaucracy tend to just favor lawyers who can charge higher to dig through it.

Things are already complex enough to the point where even a very good lawyer barely grasps how things work. The latest example is the Redhat scenario. They hit Redhat, Redhat swings pack with a GPL violation. I guarantee you that the GPL never came up in conversation when they were considering suing Redhat.

We just need to make things even more complex until lawyers absolutely cannot predict the outcome of litigation. At that point enforcing patents can become a dangerous proposition.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#88

Post by ktizo »

defen wrote: post #58

I can't view the link because it's expired, so I'll just post my rant here. The entire point of patents, as delineated in the U.S. Constitution, is "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." So patents are a means , of securing an end , which is "the progress of science and useful arts".…

Would the world be a better place if git and github did not exist

No, but certain people think they would be richer. Unfortunately the idea of increasing general wealth through the expansion of the commons is one that also makes the same people scared shitless, even if they themselves benefit. If you view the economy as a zero sum game, which might hold true, but only if you include the entire universe in your economic model, then you can only do better if others do worse. So those who hold that as a principle cannot even conceive of the idea that things like git being available might just be better for everyone as they genuinely believe that a gain by the majority is a loss to themselves.

Re: Rackspace accused of patent infringement for hosting Github

#90

Post by regularfry »

ortusdux wrote: post #81
maratd wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice sentiment. I share it. It's also a waste of breath. > trolls, oligopolies and lawyers Every member of that group is well funded, highly connected, and very aggressive. They are ready to devote untold resources to crush your sentiment and should that fail, to redirect your reform efforts into a more palatable outcome. Every piece of legislation is a compromise between competing interests and their competing inter…

Step one: variable patent lengths.

Or an automatic re-examination on litigation.
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