[Opensim-dev] personal plea on patents

Sat Feb 6 18:13:00 UTC 2010

Diva/Crista,

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

> I have just become enemy #1 of any patent application that vaguely
> tries to grab OpenSim infrastructure -- it will be crushed or made
> irrelevant.

I'd be more than happy to help with research on prior works, and examples or
anything else that we can do (as a community) to bring an end to this patent
mess.

Another thing that I'm beginning to worry about is this silly "first to
file" crap reform they are attempting to pass (thus making prior works
irrelevant).

*Opposition is concerned that first-to-file will create a rush to the
mailbox and favor larger organizations with well-established invention
disclosure procedures, patent committees and in-house attorneys.*

First to file, certainly would favor the large corporations (with deep
pockets).  In my opinion, I believe a patent should only be good for five
years, and after that it's public domain.  These 20+ year patents are
ridiculous.

I'm hoping that the Supreme Court will continue to stand by the "machine or
apparatus" ruling and not allow software patents, and ban software patents
once and for all:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2009-11-09-patents09_ST_N.htm

Patents are generally too broad and too often used as weapons in costly
infringement lawsuits to extract licensing fees from individuals or
competitors.

Bring the whole patent issue to an end, eliminate software patents in
America, do NOT become a "first to file" country (or it will unleash a
floodgate of patent applications from every clown in America fighting for IP
rights).  Most importantly put a 5 year cap on patents.  Only good for five
years, and then back to the public domain.

This will at least reduce the damage of patents, and others can continue to
innovate and develop their products (which leads to increased competition in
the market place, better products, and lower prices due to competition).
 Monopolies are not good for anyone.

If you only had the choice of ONE web browser, or ONE operating system, or
ONE type of car it would only hurt the consumer.  Patents only slow
innovation, and hurt the country as a whole.

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Cristina Videira Lopes <lopes at ics.uci.edu>wrote:

> Conspiracy theories aside, there's nothing mysterious here. Someone dropped
> us a link on Monday morning on the IRC to a bunch of patent applications
> filed within the last 2 years by a large corporation (not Microsoft) which
> seemed to follow closely some technical details of OpenSim. That, in itself,
> was a bit worrisome. But more worrisome to me was the story behind the
> discovery of such patent applications: the person who dropped us the link is
> trying to patent something related to OpenSim, and his lawyers bumped into
> those previous applications.
>
> Which made me realize the pressures that are going on here. First, while
> large corporations are well-oiled machines for producing patent applications
> of dubious merit, they are also the ones that can afford to hire people who
> understand the benefits of working in the public domain -- like the people
> from IBM and Intel who have been participating in OpenSim from the
> beginning. Hopefully that will balance out ok. Second, in the US, individual
> entrepreneurs usually face the question "where is your IP?" from investors.
> Entrepreneurs using OpenSim are no exception. I feel sorry, but ultimately
> it's their decision to succumb to the pressure or convince their investors
> that patents, in this case, are a waste of everyone's time and money. Use me
> as excuse,  if needed. I have just become enemy #1 of any patent application
> that vaguely tries to grab OpenSim infrastructure -- it will be crushed or
> made irrelevant.
>
> Diva / Crista
>
> On Feb 4, 2010, at 1:06 PM, dz wrote:
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 1:08 PM, Mark Malewski <mark.malewski at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> What exactly is going on?
>>
>> Did someone apply for a patent?  Are ANY patents pending?  If so, please
>> let us know what patents are currently pending, so we can at least look them
>> over and contest them.
>>
>>
>>
>
> Yes Diva,
>
> Please lets be a bit more explicit  about  why the sudden interest in
> patents...
>
> I don't want to read them,  I don't want to rant about them,   but i am
> curious about  why NOW?     Whats the big happy trigger event????
>
> I spent less than 10 minute with a google query "microsoft virtual world
> patents"    to collect these 2 interesting gems....
>
>
>
> http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/12/microsoft-rethinking-avatar-creation-tools.html
>
> Microsoft Rethinking Avatar Creation Tools?
>
> Microsoft is apparently exploring ways to make Xbox Live avatars more like
> their users. To that end, the company has filed for a patent that details
> "an Avatar generator for a virtual environment [which] reflects a
> physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into
> the capabilities or appearance."
>
>
>
> and another  interesting  tidbit....
>
> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021009-microsoft-patent.html
>
> Curtis Wong, who is one of four Microsoft Research co-inventors of the
> technology, said in a statement: "The goal of this patent is to make the
> interaction between the physical and virtual worlds a little more seamless."
>
> Wong, who has authored 45 patents, also was a co-inventor in 2006 on
> Microsoft's 5,000th patent, a technology that let people become spectators
> in online video games.
>
>
> so...whats the game?????     When questions get raised about the use of
> MONO  and if THAT poses a danger to the project the answer is
> NO>>>..Microsoft has  "released" the parts of mono WE use, and  issued a
> "promise"  that we don't have to worry about meeting up with a Microsoft
> legal team in the future.....     Where's  the outrage over  MS filing
> "silly" patents?
>
> I certainly don't want to prolong the off-topic discussions  about the
> future of IP...  and I'm not attempting to defend anyone elses' actions.
> Except for the off-topic rants...Ive read every word so far  and all I've
> really heard is   "DONT DO IT, ITS BAD  and  some references to some event.
> Until I know  what the event was, I'm certainly not sure how to evaluate a
> followup comment  "  No need to panic, the project is not in danger. "
>
> D
>
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