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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byrunyonave ( 1482739 ) writes:
hardcore closed source company is alwyas going to have violations. Also it's Microsoft.
byjellomizer ( 103300 ) writes:
open source project have violations too. Using someones patented ideas, calling a library that isn't GNU compatible. The program is performing a function that is illegal such as DRM disabling. That is why you need to be civil with dealing with people for violations. As chances are you have made a mistake and created a violation yourself.
byPitaBred ( 632671 ) writes:
To be fair, I would say that most people working in open-source software think that patents on ANY software are bullshit. They simply ignore them. Patents on software are immoral, as is locking up your source code, so both are eschewed by most free software developers. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's wrong, and just because it's wrong doesn't mean that it's illegal.
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bycetialphav ( 246516 ) writes:
Patents on software are immoral, as is locking up your source code
Software patents (and other forms of stupid patents) are not morality issues. It is just stupid policy to allow dumb patents. It does not further innovation and in fact just wastes people's time and energy. There are plenty of ways to argue against these bad patents, but claiming they are immoral is a stretch and just causes people to dismiss the issue.
The same can be said of deciding whether to release the source code to a program or not. If I write a piece of software, what I do with it is my business
byRequiem18th ( 742389 ) writes:
I disagree.
When you steal you prevent someone from using their property, that's why its wrong.
When you patent trivial algorithms you prevent someone from using their rights, if people come up with the same algorithms independently I don't see how can you morally prevent them from using them.
byIntlHarvester ( 11985 ) writes:
"It's OK to violate the GPL because ..."
The GPL has a patent clause because the intent was to build an ecosystem of patent-free (or freely redistributable) software. Software patents suck, but simply ignoring them just pushes the problem farther down the line.
The result is a bunch of pseudo-free software that can only be legally distributed in some vaguely unspecified countries in "Europe" where software patents aren't enforced. And that causes problems for end users and distros because it's not exactly cle
byAnonymous Coward writes:
AFAIK its pretty much only the US, Australia, Japan and South Korea that considers those patents valid, the rest of the world doesn't. (The vaguely unspecified countries in europe would be all EU members AFAIK)
Ofcourse those countries are important enough to make it a problem, but personally i don't mind just ignoring the patents and simply not distribute anything to those countries, (If anyone wants to distribute software in the US he can hire a lawyer, i'd rather not care though)
byIntlHarvester ( 11985 ) writes:
Common myth, but according to wikipedia, rather than "software patents", the EU has "computer-implemented inventions". (Except for the UK which has its own rules) Which really does not affect the FOSS implications one bit.
byjellomizer ( 103300 ) writes:
So you are saying Open Source developers have no respect for the law they disagree with. Because they don't like the rules they can break them. However if someone doesn't like your rules there will be hell to pay.
Patents on software isn't immoral. However I feel the policy is way to open allowing many stupid obvious patents that any developer will come up with when faced with that problem. But there are some Technology that can be done with software that really is truly ingenious and took the designers ma
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