What is the Right Patent Policy? 18
Jeremy asks: "I am drafting a policy for my employer's patents and software. My employer is unwilling to do away with software patents altogether, but I believe that there are benefits in restricting our patents' enforcement. Comments on our draft of a policy and opinions on what the business advantages of both sides are greatly appreciated."
Patent Policies (Score:3, Insightful)
Patent policies are like proprietary software companies just promising that they won't sue you if you copy the program. Back it up with a real license, so there's no unisys/GIF-patent like back stabbing of a community. The fact that this company would want a software patent in the first place shows their low ethical standards.
No half-truths (Score:1)
You should not give away any of the information period.
There are too many shady businesses that practice providing "helpful" pre-checked boxes in html forms that sign away your information.
let me get this straight (Score:1, Interesting)
Overall (Score:2, Interesting)
enforce profit (Score:2, Informative)
I think though, that if a person is doing research or developing something for their private use, then leave them alone. Same goes if the are developing for an open-source project.
What if you go under? (Score:1)
No license to free software? (Score:2)
In addition, your policy does not include non-discriminatory pricing, which allows you effectively to exclude some parties from use of your patents.