https://albertdelafuente.com/tags/floss/ Recent content in floss on Albert De La Fuente's site en-us vonpupp@gmail.com (Albert) vonpupp@gmail.com (Albert)Fri, 30 Jan 2026 15:39:31 -0300 Hugo -- gohugo.io https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html https://albertdelafuente.com/posts/20220109211322-software_patents/ <p>Recently I&rsquo;ve been to a talk given by Richard Stallman about how software patents are useless for the software industry. Since software is applied mathematics and, it generally needs to combine several ideas to make a new one, by doing that you could easily infringe a software patent by using one (or more) of the patented ideas.</p> <figure> <img src="https://albertdelafuente.com/home/av/repos/websites/albertdelafuente.com-hugo/static/images/fm_patents.jpg"/> </figure> <p>He commented that patents are like walking in a mine field, but worst because a mine ones it blows up it doesn&rsquo;t blows again, patents keeps blowing on and on. He later highlighted some different scenarios.</p> <h2 id="a-patent-for-your-idea-not-to-be-stolen-dot-this-is-the-worst-case-scenario">A patent for your idea not to be &ldquo;stolen&rdquo;**. This is the worst case scenario</h2> <p>You might think that you had a great idea and you want to patent it so no one will stole your idea. Later a big company comes in and develops something around your idea. Then something similar will happen&hellip;</p> <p>&gt; (You) You go there and say: Hey this idea is mine, and I have the patent so you cannot use it!</p> <p>&gt;&gt; (Big company) Ohh, it is a shame&hellip; But let me remind you that within your idea you used some ideas similar to these three patents of us&hellip;</p> <p>&gt; (oh oh)</p> <p>&gt;&gt; &hellip;and we can find other patents (among our thousands) of us, you might violated with your idea as well&hellip;</p> <p>&gt; ehmmm</p> <p>&gt;&gt; &hellip;so in order to no one get hurts, lets make a deal: You give us the right to use your patent and we wont sue you</p> <p>&gt; Well&hellip; You evaluate (in silence) and remember that they have some good lawyers and a lot of money as well&hellip; And you end by saying: Okay you can use it</p> <p>&gt;&gt; Great. Thanks =D</p> <p><strong>Conclusion: The big company wins.</strong></p> <figure> <img src="https://albertdelafuente.com/home/av/repos/websites/albertdelafuente.com-hugo/static/mobile-patent-suits.png"/> </figure> <h2 id="a-patent-to-protect-yourself-from-others-attacking-you">A patent to protect yourself from others attacking you</h2> <p>The truth is that it won&rsquo;t protect you unless you find another infringement on the other side that is covered by your patent. A minor company wont sue you anyway since they don&rsquo;t have the resources, and a big one will have very good lawyers to do so and to also defend themselves, so it&rsquo;s a endless legal battle and unnecessary waste of money.</p> <p>He also pointed that in fact a patent could be also be harmful if you try to defend yourself you don&rsquo;t know how to use it properly, or something is wrong within the patent.</p> <h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2> <p>A never ending legal story if someones attacks you, or in the best scenario nobody will attack you so you won&rsquo;t really need the patent in first place.</p> <p>Later he also made a symbolism about software and music which personally I found very interesting. &ldquo;Imagine that when Beethoven was alive the whole patent idea arose and somebody patented parts of musical pieces. Then some beautiful compositions would never been made. It&rsquo;s easier to compose for the beauty of doing so than composing with the worry of not getting sued&rdquo;.</p> <p>The whole speech makes a lot of sense while patents in software don&rsquo;t.</p> Albert.De.La.Fuente.Vigliotti@fakeEmailToMakeValidatorHappy.com (Albert De La Fuente Vigliotti) development software floss patents https://albertdelafuente.com/posts/20220109211322-software_patents/ Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0200