RE: Patents can be for good, not only evil

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Steven Bellovin wrote:
> We've all seen far too many really bad
> patents issued, ones where prior art is legion.  The (U.S.) patent
> office seems to do a far better job of searching its own databases than
> it does the technical literature.
> 
> I know there are many philosophical reasons why many people oppose
> software patents.  But for others, there are very practical reasons:
> there are too many bad patents issued.  I think we can all agree that
> stopping bad patents is a worthwhile goal, even if for some it's just
> an intermediate goal.

The times they are a-changin'. [1]

Please take a look at what's happening at
http://dotank.nyls.edu/communitypatent/. This is a GREAT place for the
technical experts in IETF to become involved in busting bad patents before
they are issued. 

After patents are issued, busting them nowadays is also easier than it used
to be if we can present prior art to support reexamination by the PTO. Take
a look at what's happening at http://www.pubpat.org/. 

The notion that each IETF working group has to approach patent issues on its
own, without help, is silly. Set an enforceable IETF patent policy for free
and open standards, and bring the technical community together through these
groups (and others!) to bust the bad patents we encounter, and I think our
problems with patents will ease substantially.

/Larry

BCC: Beth Noveck and Dan Ravicher


[1] By Bob Dylan:
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.


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