3 ms·
Why on earth would there be legal risks to reading a patent? Contrary to copyright, whether you're infringing on a patent because you read it or because you hap
by poochie_the_dog 14y ago
Why on earth would there be legal risks to reading a patent? Contrary to copyright, whether you're infringing on a patent because you read it or because you happened to have the same idea is completely irrelevant. I know some free software guys are pretty paranoid about reading proprietary code, but I see no reason why this should transpose to patents.
(but IANAL, so perhaps I'm missing some subtle point)
- eurleif 14y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_infringement_under_United_States_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_infringement_under_Unit... 'If an infringer is found to have deliberately infringed a patent (i.e. "willful" infringement), then punitive damages can be assessed up to three times the actual damages. Legal fees can also be assessed.'
- jsnell 14y agoRight. It might be just a matter of legal departments cargo culting, but it's very common for companies to ask engineers not to read outside patents for this reason. One might think that it'd make sense to read through patents in order to avoid them, but that only works if the patents are actually even remotely understandable by a normal person. There are situations where patents need to be read, but it's not going to be done by a random engineer.
- krichman 14y agoI avoid reading all patents for this reason, even ones that are linked to by HN for being absurd.