Comments on: Hibernate: patented? http://martijndashorst.com/blog/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/ Ramblings on Java, Wicket, cats and other stuff Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:22:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Tim Fennell http://martijndashorst.com/blog/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-47 Tim Fennell Fri, 30 Jun 2006 17:30:32 +0000 http://martijndashorst.com/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-47 Actually, I think I misspoke. The test isn't "obvious to an average person" but more correctly "obvious to a person with average skill in the art". Depending on how you interpret that it might mean an average programmer, or it might mean an average infrastructure programmer, or an average developer of O/R mapping tools. I'm not sure I agree with the complete and utter abondonment of software patents, but I do agree that nearly all of them are spurious. But if someone invests years of their life to come up with an new algorithm that really is novel and sufficiently improvs on some core computing aspect - maybe they should be able to patent it and earn some money from it? Of course the term of the patent in software patents should probably be quite short since capitalizing on them can happen quite quickly and the pace of the industry is quite rapid. Actually, I think I misspoke. The test isn’t “obvious to an average person” but more correctly “obvious to a person with average skill in the art”. Depending on how you interpret that it might mean an average programmer, or it might mean an average infrastructure programmer, or an average developer of O/R mapping tools.

I’m not sure I agree with the complete and utter abondonment of software patents, but I do agree that nearly all of them are spurious. But if someone invests years of their life to come up with an new algorithm that really is novel and sufficiently improvs on some core computing aspect - maybe they should be able to patent it and earn some money from it?

Of course the term of the patent in software patents should probably be quite short since capitalizing on them can happen quite quickly and the pace of the industry is quite rapid.

]]> By: Martijn Dashorst http://martijndashorst.com/blog/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-46 Martijn Dashorst Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:39:39 +0000 http://martijndashorst.com/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-46 Heh... I doubt anyone other than average+ programmers would consider this patent to be obvious. It is not possible for a layman to be able to judge whether a patent application is obvious or not. There is just too much going on in the world to keep up. I'd suggest to drop the 'obvious' claim altogether and just ban software and business model patents as a whole. Heh… I doubt anyone other than average+ programmers would consider this patent to be obvious. It is not possible for a layman to be able to judge whether a patent application is obvious or not. There is just too much going on in the world to keep up.

I’d suggest to drop the ‘obvious’ claim altogether and just ban software and business model patents as a whole.

]]> By: Tim Fennell http://martijndashorst.com/blog/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-45 Tim Fennell Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:40:55 +0000 http://martijndashorst.com/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-45 In more positive news the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about the application of the "obvoiusness" test to patent applications. In other words, if a patent is deemed to be a combination of pre-existing techniques which is considered to be "obvious to an average person" it should be refused. IANAL, but that should kill about 80-90% of software patents if the supreme court rules the obvious way ;) In more positive news the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about the application of the “obvoiusness” test to patent applications. In other words, if a patent is deemed to be a combination of pre-existing techniques which is considered to be “obvious to an average person” it should be refused.

IANAL, but that should kill about 80-90% of software patents if the supreme court rules the obvious way ;)

]]> By: Thane Speedy http://martijndashorst.com/blog/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-44 Thane Speedy Thu, 29 Jun 2006 19:18:51 +0000 http://martijndashorst.com/2006/06/29/hibernate-patented/#comment-44 " And of course, now that Red Hat has brought the big bugs" Did you mean big bucks? It's ok. Only a uber-developer could make the Freudian slip of saying 'bugs' when they meant 'bucks'. ” And of course, now that Red Hat has brought the big bugs”

Did you mean big bucks? It’s ok. Only a uber-developer could make the Freudian slip of saying ‘bugs’ when they meant ‘bucks’.

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