Microsoft Patents Sudo

Thu Nov 12, 2009, 9:50am

The Original story can be found here: 
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091111094923390

Original Image ©xkcd can be found at http://xkcd.com/149/

I'm sure this news is going to be pasted on just about every; blog, news site, linux forum, in existence but I still wanted to at least help spread the word that I've been saying for years. Patents are a bad thing.

They were set up originally with good intentions; to protect the little man with big ideas from corporations with money and clout.
Well these days they tend to be used by big corporations to put a strangle hold on anything they see as a threat to their market share and profit - sadly this also puts a big damper on any young budding geniuses who may one day invent the next big thing.

All studies and reports tend to show that open source communities produce more, and better, things than the companies who are so big that they've lost sight of the goals they once had (such as working for the customer/consumer rather than for their own pockets). What will happen to Open source software when patents prevent them from being able to innovate?

As far as I'm concerned ideas, concepts and software should not be patentable. Why do I include ideas and concepts?

They are intangible. If we can patent things that don't exist but may do, and just sit on those patents then who's going to want to make it when the fear of being sued looms over them?

Only things that have been made reality, come into existence, should be patentable.

Patents for ideas and concepts only work if the person who is allowed that patent is actively working to make that idea a reality - this sort of patent should be up to annual review to make sure the patent holder isn't just patent sitting.

In the case of the Microsoft Patenting Sudo (with a GUI), I have to wonder what the Patent Issuer was doing to check that it was good to patent? I can't see it standing up in a court of law if Microsoft do turn round to try and use the patent to sue, but I'm sure the threat of it will get to some people.