Organization: The Programmer's Pit Stop, Ann Arbor MI
Lines: 37
In article <7274.2A6A7681@psycho.fidonet.org> Alan.Gilbertson@f230.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Alan Gilbertson) writes:
>"Hayes?" "Monopolistic?" Are we talking about the same company? They aren't even a Big League player in the modem market! Patents are a fine and necessary part of protecting people who invent things from being ripped off by people who don't. There aren't exceptions just because a particular invention happens to be something *really useful*, even if it was *really obvious*, and even when it makes someone into "one of those big companies that everybody hates".
You have just described two reasons why people are against the Hayes
patent:
1. Hayes used to be a big-league modem maker. Now they're being
upstaged by other companies, like Telebit and USR. Instead of
innovating and producing a *better product* in order to beat their
competitors, like companies used to do, they decide to hire a bunch of
lawyers and sue the pants off all their competitors. (Note that I am
not commenting, at least not yet, on whether or not the Hayes patent
is valid.) So, instead of getting neat new technology, the industry
stagnates because the other companies either knuckle under to Hayes
and fork over the bucks, or face a huge lawsuit. The smaller
companies, who can't afford to defend themselves against a big suit,
end up either going out of business or paying the bucks.
2. Part of the requirements for being granted a patent on an idea is
the provision that it be non-obvious to someone working in that field.
It's been shown that using a guard time to distinguish a control
sequence from data -- what the Hayes patent covers, I believe -- was
in use long before Hayes started using it. Therefore, the patent
never should have been granted in the first place.
The debate is similar in many ways to the debate over software and
user-interface patents. Should Apple be able to patent the
windows-and-menus IU? Even though they stole it from Xerox? And if
they can, should Ford be able to patent the steering wheel and
floor-mounted gearshift? There is a very strong argument against
IU patents here; should companies be able to patent such basic
technology when the result would be making computers harder to use?
--
Marc Unangst | Real men don't make backups. Real men never
mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us | accidentally delete files that they're going
