DISQUS

Community Page on DISQUS

www.techliberation.com Jump to website »

Subscribe
- New Comments
Community
Top Commenters
- eee_eff
  734 comments · -6 points
- Richard Bennett
  531 comments · 1 points
- Steve R.
  398 comments · 9 points
- Jim Harper
  256 comments · 1 points
- Adam Thierer
  128 comments · -1 points
Popular Threads
- Net Neutrality, Free Speech, and Tim Lee’s New Paper
  2 days ago · 22 comments
- 5 Digital Technologies That Improved My Life in 2008
  18 hours ago · 3 comments
- Debate: Does Google Violate its “Don’t Be Evil” Motto?
  5 days ago · 13 comments
- Network Neutrality and Transaction Costs
  1 week ago · 18 comments
- The Perils of Thinking of Broadband as a Public Utility
  3 days ago · 4 comments
Recent Comments
- Dude, I'm just joking with you Applebees. Chill. And yes, the stylus is soooo 1994. But some things from the past are worth preserving.
  2 hours ago by Adam Thierer
  
  in 5 Digital Technologies That Improved My Life in 2008
- Steve: Great comment, to which I would add just a couple of points. First, to the extent that a corporation that may provide the "pipes" is separate from one that provides the content,...
  4 hours ago by eee_eff
  
  in Net Neutrality, Free Speech, and Tim Lee’s New Paper
- My top 5: 1. <a href="http://ww.autohotkey.com/">AutoHotKey</a> - This is a simple yet powerful macro scripting program for Windows. I created a simple one-line script...
  6 hours ago by Adam Marcus
  
  in 5 Digital Technologies That Improved My Life in 2008
- "Don’t understand how you iPhone zombies get along without one." It does not help your argument any when you insist on insulting users of another device. You arguments come off as...
  7 hours ago by tim
  
  in 5 Digital Technologies That Improved My Life in 2008
- I haven't seen the actual lawsuit so I'll take your word for it. The letters speak vaguely of "proprietary material" which I assumed includes the photographs. It's possible...
  13 hours ago by DUI Lawyers Online
  
  in Jones Day Lawyers Apparently Don’t Know the Law

The Technology Liberation Front

The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.

Jump to original thread »

Announcing Software Patent of the Week

Started by TLF · 3 months ago

8 comments

lippard
2 years ago

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Patent-Busting Project is a good resource.

The one that has recently got my attention is C2 Global (formerly Acceris's) VOIP patent, as per this very recent lawsuit filing.

lippard
2 years ago

Kevin Carson's blog has an interesting post about non-software patents stifling innovation. Key quote:

The fuel efficiency of steam engines is not thought to have changed at all during the period of Watt's patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five. After the expiration of Watt's patents in 1800, not only was there an explosion in the production of engines, but steam power finally came into its own as the driving force of the industrial revolution. In the next 30 years steam engines were modified and improved, and such crucial innovations as the steam train, the steamboat and the steam jenny all came into wide usage. The key innovation was the high-pressure steam engine -- development of which had been blocked by Watt by strategically using his 1775 patent.

Tim
2 years ago

Interesting. I've corresponded with Levine and I think his arguments are provocative, if not always persuasive.

The merits of patents in general is an issue I just don't feel qualified to have a definite opinion on. I think that software patents have several characteristics that make them especially bad, so I'd rather focus on highlighting those flaws and leave the broader issue of patent reform to others who know the issue better than me.

Paul Leopardi
2 years ago

One patent you may want to look at is United States Patent 6,859,816 Makino, et al.
February 22, 2005, (assignee: Sony Corporation), filed January 25, 2001. This
seems to be a patent for a case of the Fast Fourier Transform. It looks to me to be
invalid on the grounds of one or more of: (a) patent describes a pure algorithm, not an artifact or technical mechanism, or (b) prior art, eg. FFTW, or (c) obviousness. See, eg. FFTW release notes for possible prior art.