[arch-general] Opinions on PowerShell?

[Jayesh Badwaik]

On Friday, 19 August 2016 10:58:26 CEST Doug Newgard wrote:
> Which is also moot. Google and RedHat both have patent portfolios that
> they can and do defend.

Okay, then other factors come in, Google and Redhat "actively" develop free software. This 
means that if they first write some software and then put a patent application for it, most 
often, the patent application can be invalidated through prior art. Considering patents 
take almost 12 to 18 months on average, the other method of contribution (patenting first 
and then submitting is very difficult because of continuous exposure and at least 
somewhat fast changes in the code base of importat FOSS). 

There still exists one method which is, patent first, use the technique later to contribute 
code, however, that would be covered with
1. clean room implementation
2. won't stand up that favorably in the court, since the company itself willingly contributed 
the code. 

So, the point that is actually the point is, a company which is "actively" contributing to the 
already existing FOSS software and ecosystem is a much safer company to handle than a 
company which dumps a bunch of free software in public periodically. This is exacerbated 
by the fact that they *do* use patents to pursue their agenda.  

-- 
Cheers
Jayesh Badwaik
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 819 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part.
URL: <https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-general/attachments/20160819/7effa4e3/attachment.asc>