3 ms·

How does that work? Genuinely curious - can a patent holder force someone to un-publish source code?

• Someone 12y ago
  A court can order someone to stop publishing source code and to pay damages for illegally distributed material. In the related field of copyright, courts have been known to order the destruction of books, fake watches, etc.
• exhilaration 12y ago
  That's pretty much what happened when a Dutch developer tried to publish source code emulating what the Shazam song-recognition app did: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100708/04230710128.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100708/04230710128.shtml
• merrillii 12y ago
  In the USA if you knowingly violate a patent you will be responsible for triple damages. For software that would be 3X the revenue generated. This is true even if the violator does not charge - because the person with the patent is still suffering damages (lost revenue). So practically they can force you to remove it if they can show damages - which wouldn't be that hard to show in the Shazam example.
• DannyBee 12y ago
  Inducement, etc See, e.g., http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/inducement_of_infringement http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/inducement_of_infringement