<div>Diva/Crista,</div><div><br></div><div>Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. </div><div><br></div>> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">I have just become enemy #1 of any patent application that vaguely</span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">> tries to grab OpenSim infrastructure -- it will be crushed or made</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">> irrelevant.</span><div>
<br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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).</div>
<div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; "><b><i>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.</i></b></span></div>
<div><br></div><div>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. </div>
<div><br></div><div>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:</div><div><br></div>
<div><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2009-11-09-patents09_ST_N.htm">http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2009-11-09-patents09_ST_N.htm</a></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetical, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; ">Patents are generally too broad and too often used as weapons in costly infringement lawsuits to extract licensing fees from individuals or competitors.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br>
</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Cristina Videira Lopes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lopes@ics.uci.edu">lopes@ics.uci.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div style="word-wrap:break-word">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.<div>
<br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Diva / Crista</div><div><div><br><div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div>On Feb 4, 2010, at 1:06 PM, dz wrote:</div><br></div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 1:08 PM, Mark Malewski <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mark.malewski@gmail.com" target="_blank">mark.malewski@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex">
What exactly is going on?<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><br></blockquote><div><br><br>Yes Diva,<br><br>Please lets be a bit more explicit about why the sudden interest in patents...<br><br>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????<br>
<br>I spent less than 10 minute with a google query "microsoft virtual world patents" to collect these 2 interesting gems....<br><br><br><a href="http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/12/microsoft-rethinking-avatar-creation-tools.html" target="_blank">http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/12/microsoft-rethinking-avatar-creation-tools.html</a><br>
<br>Microsoft Rethinking Avatar Creation Tools?<br><br>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."<br>
<br><br><br>and another interesting tidbit....<br><br><a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021009-microsoft-patent.html" target="_blank">http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021009-microsoft-patent.html</a><br>
<br>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."<br>
<br>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. <br><br><br>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?<br>
<br>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. "<br>
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