[Opensim-dev] How Was OpenSim "Born"?

[Len Brown]

The scourge here in the US are the "patent whores" who make a business model
of doing little more than patenting as many ideas as they can and then sit
and wait for someone else to implement an idea and then slam them with a
lawsuit for "intellectual property rights infringement."  It baffles me how
anyone would allow such lawsuits to make their way through the system.

But then again, we are talking about a country where I can sue a fast food
chain if my coffee is too hot.  Maybe that's why they now offer "iced
coffee"  ?

Even if the coffee cup has posted that its contents are hot there's someone
ready to sue.  A while back I saw on the news where a woman sued because her
mother "burned" her lip from hot coffee purchased at a fast food
drive-through window and her defense was that her mother was not a native
English speaker, and thus could not understand the message "Caution:
Contents May Be Hot"

Guess what?  She was awarded half a million $.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 2:28 AM, Tedd Hansen <tedd at nimbustech.no> wrote:

>  Hi
>
>
>
> Actually the patent system should work fine and encourage innovation. It *
> *should** have a block against patenting things that are a natural
> evolution of existing technology.
>
>
>
> Sadly, as with all things, the US justice system seems to allow any party
> to sue any part for anything and I think that has rubbed off on patenting
> (imho). Now companies are patenting everything just to avoid getting sued.
> We see examples of this in IBM, Microsoft, etc where they patent it just to
> release it to everyone. (Anyone remember the MS-patent for “Dynamic loading
> and binding of modules” I found researching for script engine? ;) )
>
>
>
> Doing some researching for a patent here in Norway a few years back I found
> that it was near impossible (here) to get a patent unless what you made was
> revolutionary new. Anything that would be considered the next step was not
> enough for a patent.
>
>
>
> Br,
>
>  Tedd
>
>
>
> *From:* opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de [mailto:
> opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de] *On Behalf Of *Mark Malewski
> *Sent:* 12. februar 2010 06:01
>
> *To:* opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
> *Subject:* Re: [Opensim-dev] How Was OpenSim "Born"?
>
>
>
> *> I honestly believe that the patent system, by its very nature, *
>
> *> is the worst thing ever when it comes to stifling innovation*
>
> *> and technological advancement.*
>
>
>
> Agreed.
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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