Software Patent Debate Rages Online

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Software Patent Debate Rages Online

– by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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I recently attended a conference in Las Vegas where 3
presenters got on stage and said that consumers, software
developers, and website designers risked massive fines and
even criminal charges for using MP3 audio online.

After I recovered from my initial shock, I realized they
were talking about a software patent held by a French based
company, Thomson, which enables them to charge licensing
fees for anyone using their MP3 audio technology.

Upon opening this proverbial “can of online worms” I
discovered that a whole world of what many consider
unenforceable software patents exists online.

From my research, much of the online software patent debate
stems from patents issued in Europe that may or may not get
enforced. Did you know that someone patented the process of
an online shopping cart?

Sun Microsystems patented the “shopping cart” process and
could try to collect a royalty from anyone who uses a
similar system (which rates as anyone selling anything
online).
http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP807891

Another company patented paying with a credit card over the
Internet, which would definitely shut down the vast majority
of all ecommerce if they could enforce that patent!
http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP820620

Log on to www.nosoftwarepatents.com and
http://webshop.ffii.org for some startling information.

I contacted an attorney specializing in Internet law, Bob
Silber of www.InternetLawProducts.com, to get his opinion
specifically on the debate about MP3′s.

“The mp3 licensing issue is not new, but recently resurfaced
after an Internet marketer did a ‘scare tactics’ campaign
for his own marketing purposes. Thomson is the company
holding the portfolio of patents related to MP3… Currently
Thomson doesn’t require an mp3 license for non-commercial
activities or for businesses generating an annual gross
revenue less than US $100 000.”

So, unless you’re making MP3′s or software that creates
MP3′s and making over $100,000 a year doing it, it doesn’t
appear you need to worry about this particular patent issue.

Even then, it appears the owners of the MP3 patents would
find it very difficult to enforce their patents with so much
new technology emerging that builds on, and fundamentally
changes, the original technology.

But this does open up a greater debate about what should and
should not get patented when it comes to software.

I’m fully in favor of people protecting their rights when
they create any intellectual property (software, audio,
written material, etc.), but that’s a copyright issue, not a
patent issue.

“Copyright” means nobody can do it the way you did it (with exact words, computer code, etc.).

“Patent” means nobody can do it at all without paying someone else a fee / royalty or “TAX” because they patented the “result!”

That makes a big difference when you talk about fundamental
elements necessary to make the Internet and computers run.

It was fine for Bill Gates to copyright DOS, but what if he
patented “computer operating system?”

Would that give him dominion over every computer that booted
up for next 50 years? Impossible!

Unless the courts want to shut down the Internet or
computers in general, software patents are, by their nature,
unenforceable.

With so many different computer languages, methods, and
means to do anything with computers, it’s not fair or
practical for one person or company to own a “result” or a
“process” like online “shopping carts” or “online audio.”

That would be just like allowing someone to patent “bottled
water,” and charge us all every time we took a swig from a
plastic bottle.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
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