Red Hat Asks Supreme Court to Ban Practice of Patenting Software
Posted 10/05/09 at 08:41:29 AM by Paul Lilly
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Red Hat, the self proclaimed world's leading open source technology solutions provider, has a bone to pick with not just patent trolls, but shady software patents in general. As such, Red Hat has filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to ban software patents.
"Red Hat continues its commitment to the free and open source software community by taking a strong position against bad software patents," Red Hat VP Rob Tiller said. "Our patent system is supposed to foster innovation but, for open source and software in general, it does the opposite."
Tiller went on to complain that software patents end up slowing and discouraging software innovation, arguing that "patent trolls" have exploited the current legal system by constructing lawsuits that further confuse the hundreds of thousands of patents that "cover abstract technology in vague and difficult-to-interpret terms."
Red Hat says oral arguments are scheduled for November 9, giving you plenty of time to read the full brief here (PDF).
Image Credit: Flickr Joe Gratz
Just plain wrong
Submitted by fullur on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 7:07pm
I am not saying that software patents should be upheld as a matter law. However, they currently are and the way to change that has nothing to do with the court system. This is an issue to be decided by congress (and not necessarily the federal congress). There are enough "spread the wealth around" types on "the hill" right now that if this was pitched as an entitlement program it could be pushed through in a week or so. Involving the supreme court who's role has nothing to do with deciding what a law should or should not say is no the right way to go about this.
FSF filing?
Submitted by Corfy on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 12:33pm
I got an email the other day about the FSF (Free Software Foundation) filing something with the Supreme Court in this same case, an I have seen a couple of references on the web here and there. Is their filing separate from Red Hat's, in conjunction with Red Hat's, the same as Red Hat's, or something else? No story I read about the FSF filing mentions Red Hat, and no story I have read about the Red Hat filing mentions the FSF, and not being a lawyer myself, I was kinda curious what the situation was.
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Submitted by Trooper_One on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:15am
Kudos to Red Hat for having the balls to bring this out!
They elegantly summarized it: Patents were supposed to protect and foster innovations, yet it's done the exact opposite because of Patent Trolls taking advantage of the system.
I hope the Supreme Court sees it - the US Patent System is seriously broken and requires a major renovation. Trolls suing over ambiguous patents can break a company with legal delays and bankrupt a company who acatually invested a lot of money in research and development and producing REAL technology.
It would also help to change the system from 'each party pays their own lawyer' to 'loser pays' system.
Tread lightly...
Submitted by 1337Goose on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 5:47pm
Careful. I agreed with your post but I think we need to be careful about what we suggest.
A very wise mentor of mine told me that sometimes we have ideas that sound good on paper, then we present them to people who misinterpret them. Eventually our ideas no longer belong to us because someone else runs away with them and makes them into something completely different.
What am I saying here? I bet the guy who presented DRM wanted it to be a surefire way to protect the intellectual property of content creators. He presented his ideas to a bunch of executives and they ran off with it.
In short, if the legal system wasn't so full of loopholes and ambiguity, we could probably come up with a way to protect legitimate IP while still banning the patent trolls. However, I fear that the situation isn't that cut and dry...
Would you want to create something new and innovative if Microsoft could copy your creation and push it out to consumers faster than you?
[EDIT] By the way, this comment isn't to put you down, or call your ideas invalid. It pretty much applies to this entire thread. I just thought it'd be a good idea to tell the flipside. =)
~Goose
Submitted by Muerte on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 8:03am
Wow I could never be a lawyer. I fell asleep after the 1st page.
Red Hat wins an internet.
Submitted by gendoikari1 on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 6:29am
Red Hat wins an internet.
and a
Submitted by nekollx on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:55am
and a cookie
------------------------------
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Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
C is for cookie and it's
Submitted by Caboose on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 12:12pm
C is for cookie and it's good enough for me! C is for cookie and it's good enough for me! C is for cookie and it's good enough for me! OOOHHHH COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE starts with C!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
HA!!
Submitted by GreenTurtle on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 3:56pm
LOL!!!!!........Good times :)
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