Patent system strangling open source?
2006 August 30
From the Register:
-
Patent rulings could destroy open source software
The Federal Court of Appeals has recently used a “suggestion test” to determine whether or not a patent is “obvious”. The EFF argues that the test forces those opposing a patent’s grant to produce documents proving that even the most obvious improvement has been suggested before
One day, someone will try to sue a OS application (project?) for breach of patent. That’ll be fun. Who would they sue? Who would pay for the defense lawyers? How would damages/license fees be paid?
