Fwd: [Open Manufacturing] Fwd: FSF hardware endorsement program

Bryan Bishop kanzure at gmail.com
Wed Oct 20 12:53:40 EDT 2010


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve Paulson <smpaulson at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Open Manufacturing] Fwd: FSF hardware endorsement program
To: openmanufacturing at googlegroups.com


"(Who'd deny that a patent on the lightbulb is well-deserved,
etc.)"
Well, it is certainly not clear why granting a government enforced
monopoly to the first person to submit a form to the patent office was
well deserved.
And, there is no justification for the rents received by the patent
holder over the life of the patent.
Steve
On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 09:34, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Werner Almesberger <werner at openmoko.org>
> Date: Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 10:09 AM
> Subject: Re: FSF hardware endorsement program
> To: "English Qi Hardware mailing list - support, developers, use cases
> and fun" <discussion at lists.en.qi-hardware.com>
>
>
> Phil Endecott wrote:
> > yet others believe there is something fundamentally different
> > that makes software patents bad but hardware patents OK.
>
> They correctly perceive that duplicating and distributing hardware
> costs real money, while duplicating and distributing software is
> cheap.
>
> Then they extrapolate that this is something only big business can
> do, and wrongly conclude that it's then okay to add a little extra
> burden in the form of royalties and all the logistical overhead
> they bring.
>
> Now, with the cost of everything coming down, and the ability to
> produce hardware becoming more and more ubiquitous, this
> extrapolation becomes increasingly incorrect.
>
> Give the repraps of the world some more years and a lot of
> traditional hardware will be cheap enough to make that it's hardly
> worth the trouble to charge for it.
>
> There may be tactical advances in fighting software patents,
> though. E.g., the problem for gratis software is easy to see, even
> for outsiders, and it's a relatively new domain.
>
> Hardware patents are more difficult to attack because they are an
> established concept and have a positive connotation for many
> people. (Who'd deny that a patent on the lightbulb is well-deserved,
> etc.) One thing that helps to shatter that positive image are the
> increasingly insane patent lawsuits.
>
> I really like it that the all-out patent war currently being fought
> in the mobile sector has not only reached mainstream media but that
> they're even making fun of it. "patent lawsuit Super Bowl party"
> [1], "explosion in a spear factory" [2], "relationship between
> dropping revenues and litigiousness" [3].
>
> [1] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/an-explosion-of-mobile-patent-lawsuits/
> [2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/04/microsoft-motorola-android-patent-lawsuit#
> [3] http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/whos-suing-whom-in-the-telecoms-trade/
>
> > Most well-known is the ban on saying "Linux" without qualifying it
> > somehow.
>
> Meaning: GNU/Linux. RMS, perseverance incarnate :-)
>
> BTW, it's the sort of thing Sisvel do, too. Their contract has a
> clause that they can demand that your product shows that it uses
> their patents.
>
> Once they got by the balls, why not spit in your face as well ? ;-)
>
> - Werner
>
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>
>
> --
> - Bryan
> http://heybryan.org/
> 1 512 203 0507
>
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1 512 203 0507




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