Jonathan
I am not a leet hax0r :(
Posts: 692
Registered: 05-00 |
andrewj said:
These patent promises (by Microsoft, IBM, etc) are ridiculous, like someone strapping a bomb onto you and then promising not to press the detonator. If they were truly serious then they would simply annul the patent (or put it into the public domain).
IANAL, but my understanding is that such patent grants usually include reciprocal licensing clauses that require others not to enforce their own patents against the standard. So, if someone like IBM tried to enforce patents covering some aspect of HD Photo, they would automatically lose their rights to the Microsoft patents. In that sense these are kind of like the GPL, in that they grant certain rights, but also place certain conditions upon them.
Frankly, I think you're being a little over-dramatic. These promises are after all, legally binding and irrevocable (except in such circumstances as described above). I'm no fan of software patents, or the way companies like Microsoft sometimes choose to deploy them, but until the system is reformed, these sorts of agreements do actually offer a degree of protection that is greater than if the patents were never filed, or were placed in the public domain.
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08-06-11 11:48 
