Written by Gene Quinn (IPWatchdog and Practice Center Contributor)
Over the last couple weeks I have been giving more thought to open source software and what, if any role it has to play with respect to the economic future of both start-up companies and established giants.
My belief is that open source can and should play a vital role in innovation, but the way it is by and large carried forward today does little to forward innovation and an awful lot to significantly disadvantage start-up companies. The horribly bad advice that pervades the open source community and the utter lack of knowledge or familiarity about patent law is staggering. I don’t begrudge anyone who doesn’t like the patent system, but can you please at least not like it for a valid reason? With the myths and disinformation spewed by those who are either clueless and loud, or those who know better and have an agenda, are drowning out rational debate and significantly impeding progress and innovation.
Just the other day I received an e-mail from an individual asking a few questions about my opinions and views of open source software. I had been planing on writing about this for a while, and this is what prompted me to stop thinking and start writing. Nevertheless, one of the statements posed in his e-mail was this:
Most of the Open Source lawyers advise that Open Source projects should not do any patent search around their technology area, because this could make them “knowing infringers” if they miss something or misread something.
I don’t know for certain that this is an accurate statement, but it does ring true with a number of things I have heard, both while observing presentations and when chatting with individuals in the software community. I don’t know how widespread this advice is, but I do believe it represents one school of thought, and it is tragic beyond words because it is complete and utter nonsense. Anyone following this advice is in serious jeopardy.
Read the entire article at IPWatchdog.com
Tags: Copyright, copyright infringement, infringer, innovation, job creation, Open Source, patent, Patent Office, patent search, Software, software patents, technology, US Economy, willful infringement, willful patent infringement
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