From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Aug 6 19:08:21 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 61E341065744 for ; Mon, 6 Aug 2012 19:08:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gull@gull.us) Received: from mail-we0-f182.google.com (mail-we0-f182.google.com [74.125.82.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E254F8FC20 for ; Mon, 6 Aug 2012 19:08:20 +0000 (UTC) Received: by weyx56 with SMTP id x56so2763804wey.13 for ; Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:08:19 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:x-originating-ip:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding :x-gm-message-state; bh=YpObCSFwTRZqczzDSsuGsnQKGesknslkbJKehnN0wFE=; b=AEgNx/yt9luZHL+kYC6wlkPMvzN64O7ufUXauV2YVnkv71OkLMHg+2Y/UEvofClAyR d+STB1/uVsoJq2i39fy04chWIBxbokP1B+BcEeDIbVO+Hee4wWYT8k2yL/o3mPsS9sHI GjhF8/pFORpO3GgQTe3HRdm650qjswQVnVoRbgR2zqi0cRKI9RzolT8e778b850pQCJL UkSuyDXTaEsp5/1nNFLgZNEX12bU00OH9fAyV/XDLgtF08yZWM7LFMgzesGynMrf7jJW EavPuXf5ocmQ2XnH8hMCubmAKwgDSKOGR1GCreqyER1kxBrA7EOalZWXGlsb4ZKfEUf+ EVrg== MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.216.74.21 with SMTP id w21mr6177287wed.77.1344280099557; Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:08:19 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.216.28.206 with HTTP; Mon, 6 Aug 2012 12:08:19 -0700 (PDT) X-Originating-IP: [128.95.17.228] In-Reply-To: <20120806183717.ed53868f.steve@sohara.org> References: <20120805045800.29444.qmail@joyce.lan> <20510.27576.562781.36878@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20120805093320.7b7f0fc4@scorpio> <20120805214321.17a02e43@papi> <20120806081638.1033190a@scorpio> <20120806183717.ed53868f.steve@sohara.org> Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 19:08:19 +0000 Message-ID: From: David Brodbeck To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQkGoRixLUDpQXgJr/sbDCFQGhyEJLuROFzb3hvJpyLDqh1pv1zAYHJvylYcwt8ZtY15QSZT Subject: Re: Patent hit - MS goes after Linux - FreeBSD ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:08:21 -0000 On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 5:37 PM, Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote= : > On Mon, 6 Aug 2012 08:16:38 -0400 > Jerry wrote: > >> Yes you can. You are stating a commonly held incorrect belief. You can >> always request a license from the patient holder. No one, well no one >> interested in monetary compensation would patient anything unless they >> were: >> >> =E2=81=BD=C2=B9=E2=81=BE Intended to use the patents in such a way that = they would directly >> profit from it >> >> =E2=81=BD=C2=B2=E2=81=BE Intended to lease the patent rights or outright= sell the patent. > > [3] Want to prevent anyone else from using it to break into their market. Yes, but this comes with a trade-off. Patents are for a LIMITED time. And in exchange for getting that temporary monopoly, you have to publish the details of your invention. The idea was not just to provide a monetary incentive for innovation, but to ensure that those innovations became public knowledge. In the absence of patents, companies tend to resort to trade secrets -- keeping the details of their innovations hidden. This can result in "lost technologies" when a particular company goes under and takes its trade secrets with it. Now, it's reasonable to argue that in some fields the duration of that limited monopoly is too long, given how quickly technology advances, but that doesn't mean the concept isn't sound.