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Maybe software patents should only be good for a few years? I think that a current patent is good for twenty, but maybe it's only fair if a patent can last for
by michaelpinto 14y ago
Maybe software patents should only be good for a few years? I think that a current patent is good for twenty, but maybe it's only fair if a patent can last for five years? That might really encourage innovation...
- eropple 14y agoFrankly, and I realize this might be a radical notion (said with tongue firmly in cheek), but I think none years is about right. Yes, none years sounds good. Shall we go with that? ;)
- gue5t 14y agoI think that this might also be the sweet spot for copyright!
- nilsbunger 14y agoGPL depends on copyright, so you'd be eliminating enforceability of that too.
- JoshTriplett 14y agoSo be it; if we got rid of copyright and lost copyleft in the process, I'd consider that a net win. The Free Software Foundation has said on several occasions that they feel the same way.
- crdoconnor 14y agoGPL was really just an attempt to use copyright against itself anyway.
- scott_w 14y agoI think the key thing to note is that it would be less necessary, since there would be no legal means to prevent you taking apart a compiled binary, working out how to improve it, and sharing those improvements.
- eropple 14y agoCopyright has nothing at all to do with patents. Copyright is a generally good force; its current lifespan is too long, but it has demonstrable value, even in software. Patents have demonstrated no such value.
- htf 14y agoCopyright is most definitely not a good force. Whenever the government intervenes to prevent voluntary transactions among individuals, it destroys more value than it creates. Copyright falls under that category.
- eropple 14y agoAbsolutist statements like that sound nice, don't they? Shame that both history and the present day don't bear out your claims. Thanks for playing, though!