Microsoft--license to deal

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the cooperative elements can be a challenge. One need only look at the slow pace of work with Sun Microsystems to see how challenging it can be to implement such accords.

Give and take
Microsoft also is finding things tricky as it tries to work with standards bodies and open-source communities, something that is clearly a delicate process. The recent challenges over patent issues related to the Sender ID antispam standard illustrate how conflicts can arise even when various parties have good intentions, Kaefer said.

One place the software titan is trying to avoid is the courtroom. Following the lead of its intellectual property lawyer, former IBM attorney Marshall Phelps, Microsoft is seeking to beef up its licensing without having to file a bunch of suits to do so. Kaefer noted that Phelps built IBM's intellectual property business without filing a single lawsuit (although he inherited one when he took the job).

That said, Microsoft is pursuing negotiations with companies it feels are using its intellectual property. "It's not possible for us to just look the other way," he said.

[savvysooner]

Who needs Directors with Interlocking Patents

Evidence of the utter failure of anti-trust. Maybe those open source, free software people are on to something!

[savvysooner]

Who needs Directors with Interlocking Patents

Evidence of the utter failure of anti-trust. Maybe those open source, free software people are on to something!

[rdean]

More evidence the patent system is broken...

The big companies all band together and form an interlocking web of patents that the little guy can't penetrate. I thought patents were supposed to protect the little guy from the big companies that had the resources to rip off their ideas and price them out of the market.

[rdean]

More evidence the patent system is broken...

The big companies all band together and form an interlocking web of patents that the little guy can't penetrate. I thought patents were supposed to protect the little guy from the big companies that had the resources to rip off their ideas and price them out of the market.

This is wrong

Patenting FAT, an array of pointers. What is next, patenting the for loop or binary trees?

Patents and software go to together liek Bush and intelligent thought. They just don't mix. Look at all the advancements in software, from algorithms to computer languages. What if Dr. Stroustrup patented C++, or Richie did that with C? What about all the algorithms that programmers use everyday to produce faster code?

We would still be in the dark ages of computing, with no chance to escape. Copyright your code to your hearts content, but leave patents out of it.

This is wrong

Patenting FAT, an array of pointers. What is next, patenting the for loop or binary trees?

Patents and software go to together liek Bush and intelligent thought. They just don't mix. Look at all the advancements in software, from algorithms to computer languages. What if Dr. Stroustrup patented C++, or Richie did that with C? What about all the algorithms that programmers use everyday to produce faster code?

We would still be in the dark ages of computing, with no chance to escape. Copyright your code to your hearts content, but leave patents out of it.