Legal crap -or- patents on software

[Candy]

How is your opinion on them, what do you do with the patents, and do you avoid programs with patented algorithms?

Also, did you ever make software that included a patented algorithm? Ex. LZW?

[sonneveld]

Should we even admit it here? AGI v3 uses LZW.

- Nick

[Candy]

Should we even admit it here? AGI v3 uses LZW.

::)

I'm more or less trying to find out the opinion of people on this. I myself really don't care about the USPTO, and the patents they write out. If my software uses one of those algorithms, it cannot be distributed to the US without legal threat. Solution: I don't.

As for the other stuff about the patents, I completely ignore them .

[sonneveld]

We might not care but the people who register these things might

- Nick

[mystran]

Personally, I don't give a monkey's @$$ about patents, as I don't acknowledge their existence, but I admit that I try to avoid using
patented stuff in my own programs, since I know some other people care. Then again, never searched to check if something's patented.

Could of course solve the problem by adding a disclaimer: "If you live in a country where this software violates patents, you are not allowed to download this software. If you do, the author can not be held responsible for the violation."

You could also try "the interoperability card" where applicable.

DISCLAIMER: AFAIK I don't have any software that'd violate patents, at least not in Finland, simply because the software I'd use in any case doesn't violate any that I'm aware of. Also, IANAL so this message can't be considered legal advice.

[Candy]

You could also try "the interoperability card" where applicable.

What's an interoperability card? The clause that's always typed in capitals that says it might not be fit to do anything etc ?

[mystran]

What's an interoperability card? The clause that's always typed in capitals that says it might not be fit to do anything etc ?

I remember like in Europe at least, one can break patents and/or do reverse engineering to provide interoperability with other products. But anyway, not sure about what it actually applies to. The point is basicly, that it's ok to write a loader for fileformat using some patented algorithm, if that is required to provide interoperation with some other pieces of software.

But indeed, I posted this from memory, so I can't promise to actually have any real clue about this. =)