Will Patents Pillage Open Source?
Steven J. Frank,
News.Com,
Apr 16, 2003
After SCO launched a lawsuit against IBM, alleging that the corporation had infringed on its patents via its contributions to the open source community, the fear has been raised that patent legislation could undermine, and ultimately ruin, the open source movement. This is not an idle concern since the U.S. patent office, in its searches for prior art, tends mainly to concentrate on previous patents, a method of publication mostly eschewed by the open source community. But the author suggests that the cost of a lawsuit against open source would in general be far greater than any potential benefits; not only would the defendants have very little money, the plaintiff would also have elicited the open hostility of some of the most influential leaders in their intended customer base.
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