Is open source software safe from patent trolls?
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I was reading the account of the Newegg vs TQP case and it occurred to me that maybe patent trolls are eyeing the open source repositories.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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I was reading the account of the Newegg vs TQP case and it occurred to me that maybe patent trolls are eyeing the open source repositories.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
Nobody is safe from patent trolls... X|
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I was reading the account of the Newegg vs TQP case and it occurred to me that maybe patent trolls are eyeing the open source repositories.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
I agree that no one is safe from the trolls, but I think the one thing that might make them safer is that there's little/no money in suing an open source developer. As that's their real goal (there's a 0% chance any of these companies will use the patents otherwise), most OS is safe. RedHat, the OS parts of Oracle, and other profitable OS companies not included in the above.
-------------- TTFN - Kent
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I was reading the account of the Newegg vs TQP case and it occurred to me that maybe patent trolls are eyeing the open source repositories.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
Open source guys are more likely to fight on principle (and to the death). These monsters prey on people who look at the bottom line, and realise that it will cost more to fight than pay up.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I agree that no one is safe from the trolls, but I think the one thing that might make them safer is that there's little/no money in suing an open source developer. As that's their real goal (there's a 0% chance any of these companies will use the patents otherwise), most OS is safe. RedHat, the OS parts of Oracle, and other profitable OS companies not included in the above.
-------------- TTFN - Kent
Kent Sharkey wrote:
is that there's little/no money in suing an open source developer
That is simplistic. Many larger popular open source projects are specifically supported by companies (ones with money) even to the extent that some developers work full time on open source development. Additionally there are many, many more companies (again with money) that use open source software. Both can be targeted.
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Kent Sharkey wrote:
is that there's little/no money in suing an open source developer
That is simplistic. Many larger popular open source projects are specifically supported by companies (ones with money) even to the extent that some developers work full time on open source development. Additionally there are many, many more companies (again with money) that use open source software. Both can be targeted.
jschell wrote:
Many larger popular open source projects are specifically supported by companies (ones with money) even to the extent that some developers work full time on open source development.
Like the ones I mentioned? Still, for these vultures, it's far easier to go after mid-sized companies that make a fair bit of change (thus them going after NewEgg and not Google) than for them to target RedHat or MariaDB or most other open source companies.
-------------- TTFN - Kent