[Obi Wan's Ghost]

You got an idea or invention and want to patent it? Can't afford to develop your patent yet? Well Ubuntu's founder thinks you shouldn't be rewarded for your inventions and that you are a "real threat" to software development. He believes your ideas should be available to Ubuntu and Windows developers for free. They get to achieve their ambitions, make the dough or get the customers, and you can go **** yourself for having some intelligence.

Ubuntu chief: Microsoft will lose patent war

Shuttleworth also insists that Microsoft isn't a threat to Linux. 'The real threat to Linux is the same as the real threat to Microsoft, and that is a patent suit from a person or company that is not actually building software, but has filed patents on ideas that the GNU project and Microsoft are equally likely to be implementing.'

[Amorya]

Originally Posted by Obi Wan's Ghost 

You got an idea or invention and want to patent it? Can't afford to develop your patent yet? Well Ubuntu's founder thinks you shouldn't be rewarded for your inventions

I agree completely. If you just have an idea, you haven't invented anything. The idea is the really easy part. The hard slog is actually going out and developing something.

Amorya

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

Originally Posted by Amorya 

I agree completely. If you just have an idea, you haven't invented anything. The idea is the really easy part. The hard slog is actually going out and developing something.

Amorya

That's a blanket statement. Many ideas are difficult to come up with, hard to blueprint and describe with text and diagrams in order to obtain a patent. You as an innovator and inventor should not be screwed by any company, Ubuntu or Microsoft. And why the hell am I defending the rights of an inventor? You should be throwing your arms up in the air against what that man said.

[SirCastor]

Reading through Shuttleworth's blog posting on the subject, you'll find that he doesn't say anything close to "people shouldn't get paid for their ideas and inventions". He points out that Linux and Microsoft are likely going to be on the same side of the patent debate soon, both developing technologies and running into patent problems. He thinks that the patent system should be revised (which is not an uncommon thought, especially regarding software patents). He even says that IP holders are utilizing the existing system.

He doesn't say a word about free ideas, or no compensation. It's a good point, and opens discussion. I think that there could be a lot of value for instance, if you could use patented freely if you weren't making money off of them, an implementation that allows for situations like Linux which are neither organized or have money, and for situations like Microsoft, that wish to sell their product and have the power to license a patent.

[Chuckit]

Even the Supreme Court has ruled that patents in some areas (software patents are believed to be a very big one) have really gotten out of hand and they are in fact being used to choke innovation. This is the kind of thing Shuttleworth is talking about. People are making claims along the lines of, "Hey, I own the patent on sending data from a computer to an external device to be represented on paper!" (I don't remember if this is an actual example, but I'm not exaggerating the boneheadedness of these patents.) Software patents were a bit sketchy to begin with, but they really are reaching absurd levels.

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

Shuttleworth isn't clear on which patents he will respect and which he won't. Where is the line drawn between reasonable and unreasonable patents? Or does he regard all of them as a "real threat". Why should an individual not have success from his invention if it is alright for Ubuntu and Microsoft to do so?

[ink]

Originally Posted by Obi Wan's Ghost 

Where is the line drawn between reasonable and unreasonable patents?

By a court, after spending tens of thousands (if not millions) of dollars in legal fees.

Software patents are broken by design; they always work against the little guy without much money and in favor of corporations (like Verizon, who has all but shut down Vonage -- horray for Verizon; I'm sure they'll give us unlimited VOIP calling any day now....)

Can you name a case where an individual innovator won a software patent suit against a large corporation to protect their already-built product?

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

Originally Posted by ink 

Can you name a case where an individual innovator won a software patent suit against a large corporation to protect their already-built product?

No! That's why individuals need better protection, not companies with wide distribution like Ubuntu and MS. Patent and copyright protection, innovation and piracy prevention works both ways.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by ink 

By a court, after spending tens of thousands (if not millions) of dollars in legal fees.

Software patents are broken by design; they always work against the little guy without much money and in favor of corporations (like Verizon, who has all but shut down Vonage -- horray for Verizon; I'm sure they'll give us unlimited VOIP calling any day now....)

Can you name a case where an individual innovator won a software patent suit against a large corporation to protect their already-built product?

Individual innovators, no. Small companies with obviously bullshit patents ("Hey, disk drives are MY idea!") have been shaking down big corporations like Apple for years. The big companies will often just pay the license fee rather than fight it.

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Individual innovators, no. Small companies with obviously bullshit patents ("Hey, disk drives are MY idea!") have been shaking down big corporations like Apple for years. The big companies will often just pay the license fee rather than fight it.

How is a patent defined as bullshit? Again, this comes down to where do you draw the line? If an individual has a patent from disk drives and their patent isn't respected then what is stopping a big company or Ubuntu from ignoring your patent for, say, an entirely innovative and useful new GUI interface?