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EFF Patent Project Gets Half-Million-Dollar Boost from Mark Cuban and 'Notch'
- lolcraft 14y agoHmmm, that's a bold move from Notch. I wonder how political activism in the US by a Swedish citizen is going to sit. Personally, I would just have thanked my luck for working in a country with sane patent laws.
- gilrain 14y agoThe patent laws of the US always seem to reach across borders, so it's not surprising to see pressure from non-Americans.
- krasin 14y agoNotch was sued by US-based patent troll back in July, 2012: http://boingboing.net/2012/07/21/patent-troll-targets-minecraft.html http://boingboing.net/2012/07/21/patent-troll-targets-minecr... Notch just fights back.
- fruchtose 14y agoI think Notch is in a good position. Minecraft has huge draw among children. Think of how many politicians' kids might play it.
- jlgreco 14y agoMaybe my perception is skewed, but I imagine most American politicians' children being in their 20's to 30's. Edit: Apparently wikipedia really does have a page for everything: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_Senators_by_age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_S...
- jack-r-abbit 14y agoOur President's kids are 11 & 14. Sure that is just one case but I also imagine current generation of politicians is on the edge of a more recent trend to have kids later in life (not counting the other trend of having kids at age 14).
- jlgreco 14y agoObama is only older than 15 or so of the 100 senators. As far as American politics go, he is quite young.
- tedunangst 14y agoWhile I suppose Congressmen may make their voting decisions based on what games their kids like to play, I'd hope they'd consider other factors.
- fruchtose 14y agoI would like that as well, but sadly a lot of U.S. politics seems to be based on personal factors these days...
- RyanZAG 14y agoHardly political activism - he is just bankrolling others (EFF, American citizens) to do the actual activism. You'd be pretty surprised how much of US activism is likely bankrolled by foreign powers in China / Middle East. The bold move is declaring it openly, but it's not really that bold considering it is a very publicly favorable position at present, and it is in Notch's direct interests as he is creating but doesn't hold US patents. In any event, I believe the EFF is pretty much a global charity at this point? I just donated to them also with the latest Humble Bundle, and I'm not in USA.
- hkmurakami 14y agoProgress in the United States on this front is likely to cause ripples worldwide, including Sweden, so in that light I think the choice is more than reasonable. :)
- krichman 14y agoBold? He's already popular on Reddit and this will double or treble the magnitude of that.
- dawernik 14y agoYep, enough money for two attorneys oughta do it. Although i have to admit, i would love to have that title 'The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents'.
- mtgx 14y agoEFF's ideas for patent reform: https://defendinnovation.org https://defendinnovation.org They sound pretty good to me.
- against-patents 14y agoAs pointed out by Richard Stallman at the topmost comment about EFF's proposal to shorten the patent term for software patents to 5 years, it might actually be easier to entirely abolish software patents because of a requirement by WTO to have all patents granted for a 20-year period: https://defendinnovation.org/proposal/shorten-patent-term#comment-49 https://defendinnovation.org/proposal/shorten-patent-term#co... If you're a designated inventor of a patent or a patent application who opposes patents, you could publicly state your support for patent abolition at the Inventors Against Patents site: http://inventors-against-patents.org http://inventors-against-patents.org
- chris_wot 14y agoThe problem is that you really need to weaken the system before you can completely smash it. By reducing the value of patents it gets easier to argue for the complete demolition of the existing patent system.
- carlesfe 14y agoAll of this seems reasonable, so by extension, I assume that the current system is really unreasonable. I mean, not even making the trolls pay for the legal costs if they lose? That's outrageous
- rayiner 14y agoThe U.S. in general does not make losers pay, which is good because "loser pays" is just a terrible idea wholly unsuitable for a country that ties most valuable rights to litigation. I've been working on a pro bono project where a small town is suing a big company for industrial pollution. It's a very hard case to win--the town has already given up a lot of arguments by having waited too long (believing that the government would protect them), and the other side has a ton of money. But being hard doesn't mean it isn't meritorious. This is a suit that needs to be brought and deserves to be brought, but never would in a loser-pays system. And maybe that would be okay in Europe, where they pay for a big government to enforce these sorts of things, but we don't do that in the U.S. Instead, we depend on private litigation to enforce peoples' rights.
- against-patents 14y agoIf you're a designated inventor of a patent or a patent application who opposes patents, you could publicly state your support for patent abolition at the Inventors Against Patents site: http://inventors-against-patents.org http://inventors-against-patents.org (A site operator here; the site was launched a few days ago. The idea is that anyone campaigning for a patent reform can use support by designated inventors as a presumably convincing argument in the eyes of the general public.) Edit: As Richard Stallman points out in a comment at EFF's site, abolishing software patents can be easier than shortening the period during which a monopoly is granted to 5 years as EFF proposes; he cites a requirement by WTO that all patents are granted for a period of 20 years. The nice thing about publicly supporting abolition is that you automatically support "less radical" proposal's like EFF's 5-year reform, and you support all of them at the same time just once and all campaigners can use your support. DRY :)
- jack-r-abbit 14y agoI can see how that would be quite the annoying situation to be in. On one hand, an inventor that opposes patents could simply not file a patent. But then that leaves them open for someone else to come along and file the patent and then sue them for patent infringement. So the inventor is then compelled to file a patent simply as a way to keep some one else from getting it... even if they never plan to go after others for infringement.
- CamperBob2 14y agoYou can always stop someone else from patenting your idea by publishing it yourself, though. You don't have to play the game to affect the outcome.
- Semaphor 14y agoClear this up for me please. How does that help? Isn't that essentially the prior art thing that still has to get resolved in the courts?
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- shawn-butler 14y agoThe EFF should stick to its core mission. This is an overreach and is a mistake. Worse it's a waste of time, money and valuable attention. If you want political action and have the money and resources then why not form a single-issue political action group, get involved and do something? This is just writing a check and getting your picture and name in the media, something by the way at which Mark Cuban, whose hypocrisy knows little bounds, excels.
- ramidarigaz 14y agoHow is this not a part of the EFF's core mission?
- shawn-butler 14y agoEFF Mission statement has disappeared from their site. They should have their non-profit documents available somewhere. Wikipedia restates it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation Its mission is to protect against abuses of civil liberties in the digital arena. To protect against govt malfeasance. To protect and aid people who are being abused by willful ignorance of the law and miscarriages of justice and to inform the public about these wrongs. Btw, I think we can all agree that it is failing in these goals. So now is probably not the best time to widen its umbrella. I fail to see how the legal use of patent law is a miscarriage of justice. I don't disagree that the system is in need of reform, the EFF should be focused on its aims rather than trying to expand them.
- pw 14y agoWhat exactly is EFF's core mission? (Not being snarky. Asking seriously.)
- shawn-butler 14y agoELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION - MISSION STATEMENT July 10, 1990 [...] To that end, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will: 1. Engage in and support educational activities which increase popular understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by developments in computing and telecommunications. 2. Develop among policy-makers a better understanding of the issues underlying free and open telecommunications, and support the creation of legal and structural approaches which will ease the assimilation of these new technologies by society. 3. Raise public awareness about civil liberties issues arising from the rapid advancement in the area of new computer-based communications media. Support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect, and extend First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and telecommunications technology. 4. Encourage and support the development of new tools which will endow non-technical users with full and easy access to computer-based telecommunications. The Electronic Frontier Foundation One Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142 (617) 577-1385 eff@well.sf.ca.us
- marcamillion 14y agoHow does this work exactly....Mark Cuban sponsors a chair and the EFF hires 2 attorneys to execute the mission of the chair. But given that this a $250K grant, that sounds like it covers their salary for 1 year. What happens in the next year? Is this a commitment in perpetuity where he keeps paying these salaries? Or does the EFF have to find money next year to pay these salaries? I am not condemning this move, I am really curious about how this stuff works. Anyone know?
- shadowmint 14y agoNo idea, but I guess having someone working on this issue full-time for a year will give them some idea of how effective this type of move is, and it's certainly better than no action at all. If it is effective, I'm sure there are a variety of ways to continue to fund the initiative.
- marcamillion 14y agoPerhaps...but I am still curious as to how it works :)
- M8R-fhlcjm 14y agoYou won't be able to create an exception for software not to be patentable. It's over, get used to it and move on.
- against-patents 14y agoIt's a tad pessimistic, given that, say, slavery was abolished by most nations after being widespread and acceptable, in all cultures and on all continents, for thousands of years. Things end, especially if people actively try to end them.
- M8R-fhlcjm 14y agowhat exactly have Cuban or Minecraft innovated?
- xymostech 14y agoWell, Minecraft is the one of the largest (if not the largest) indie developed game in the world. So there's that.
- M8R-fhlcjm 14y agobiggest != technical innovation Quake 1 had better graphics and editors eons ago
- Firehed 14y agoCuban has ranted about software patents publicly many times. He's just putting his money where his mouth is. Even if he's done little that's innovative (I don't know, I'm not especially familiar with his history), there's no reason he can't still be opposed to software patents.
- krichman 14y agoThis is irrelevant to whether they are allowed to support the EFF or not.
- solutionhn 14y agoIf HN was serious about patent trolls, we would have our answers by now. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4927832 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4927832