<br><font size=2><tt>> On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:52:17 +0200<br>
> Reimar Döffinger <Reimar.Doeffinger@stud.uni-karlsruhe.de> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> > libdts is just one recent example of what can happen - it never
gets to<br>
> > the stage where someone actually checks if the claims are valid.<br>
> > The current completely obfuscated proposal thus would provide
zero<br>
> > protection to us, no matter what the proponents claim you can
patent with<br>
> > it and what not, since the only place you can find that out is
court.<br>
> <br>
> It's not the only example, but the most prominent to us.<br>
> <br>
> Actualy the situation is like this: Companies register<br>
> tons of patents. Most of these patents are accepted as they<br>
> are, although they do not contain anything technicaly new,<br>
> are not precise and no implementation is provided. Especialy<br>
> in the video coding filed a damn lot of patents are just rephrasings<br>
> of long time known mathematical formulas, methods or properties<br>
> of real signals. Thus a lot of the patents that are around these<br>
> days are invalid.<br>
> <br>
> What makes this so difficult is, that it doesn't matter whether<br>
> the patent is valid or not, as no single person or hobbist group<br>
> (that's what OSS developers are) can defend himself against<br>
> patent claims, as these have to be sorted out in curt and this<br>
> costs a damn lot. Especialy as there are lots of tactics to<br>
> prolonge such a trial (just have a look at IBM vs SCO).<br>
> Even if someone got the money and won the first round, the<br>
> company is most likely to file an appeal and the whole<br>
> thing strats again, with even huger costs.<br>
> <br>
> Over the past years, while watching all this software patent<br>
> nonsense, i realized that the problem does not lie within the<br>
> way what software is and how it is produced, nor how we develop<br>
> code, but within the patent system itself. Just have a look<br>
> outside, in every technical and non-technical field there are<br>
> tons of patents on trivial stuff, anything that a first grader<br>
> could tell you too. It's just written complicated enough to<br>
> pass a patent review. If anyone comes up with a new idea, ie<br>
> one that is really something new and not an application of already<br>
> known stuff to a new field, he'll face imediatly thousands of<br>
> patent claims, because he'll be using some general basics that<br>
> are coverd by those fake patents. Thus it becomes impossible to<br>
> even develop (not to talk about patenting) something new if<br>
> you do not have already a huge asset of patents yourself to<br>
> fend of any patent claim. <br>
> On the other hand, if you patent something, the chances<br>
> are very low that you'll ever find out that someone uses<br>
> your invention w/o paying patent fees. Thus the patent<br>
> system doesn't really protect your invention.<br>
> <br>
> And this is not only a problem in the field of software,<br>
> but a problem in all technical and scientific areas!<br>
> <br>
> Thus i came to the conclusion, that the patent system as<br>
> we have now does more harm than good and should be replaced<br>
> by something better. But as IMHO there is no system that would<br>
> work out in most cases and couldn't be easily missused, i suggest<br>
> that the whole patent system should be dropped and instead<br>
> inventions should be either protected by trade secrets <br>
> or freely shared among all. <br>
> <br>
> No more problems with a not working patent system. No<br>
> more problems with a not working patent protection.<br>
> And everyone can share a free exchange of information.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>Trying to understand the Media player specific concern
further, </tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>if I purchase a license for the MPEG-2 Patent
Portfolio and </tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>the same for MPEG-4 then does this cover me or is
this only part </tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>of the story?</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>thanks,</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>Richard</tt></font>
<BR>
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