Interesting quote from Prof Ronald J. Mann, in his recent article, "Do Patents Facilitate Financing in the Software Industry?" 83 Tex. L. Rev. 961, 1011 (2005).

"[O]ne potential cost of permitting ready enforcement of software patents is the disabling of the open source model... It does seem relevant, however, that the reluctance of the open source community to obtain patents is largely a political statement, not something necessary to the development of the improvements in functionality that the movement promises. This is proven most clearly by the recent applications for patents filed by Linux distributor Red Hat. To the extent the open source community is put at risk solely because of moral distaste for patents, the claim that the proprietary community should not be able to use patents to advantage its own operations is weakened."

posted by Solveig Singleton @ 8:25 AM | Patents, Software

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