Linked by weildish on Sat 24th Jan 2009 22:44 UTC
Legal Several days ago when Apple hinted at legal action against Palm, we held our breath to see just what would happen. Now Palm has stepped up to the plate boldly and hinted that they'd fight whatever legal action is thrown at them.
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RE: Beautiful system
by melgross on Sun 25th Jan 2009 20:00 UTC in reply to "Beautiful system"
melgross
Member since:
2005-08-12

Patent law, even for software (why is that any different than for mechanical systems and processes?) is required.

To think otherwise is to not understand the way things work.

Why invest time and money into something if others will copy it right away, and very possibly deprive you of the income you rightfully deserve for coming up with it in the first place? That makes no sense!

The requirement that all the details of a patent be published and easily accessible, is also important, as it gives others the ability to study them, and if possible, find out even more innovative ways of doing the same thing.

Patents don't last forever. Unlike with copyrights, there has been no movement to extend those protections past 20 years.

Perhaps software patents should last for a shorter time, say 7 years. That would better track the way progress is made in this industry.

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