At 07:30 PM 4/29/97 -0400, Robert Hettinga wrote:
Anyway, getting back to the point, "avoiding unpleasantness" also means not having patent lawyers sue those very essential "hoity-toity" trustee banks for rediculous reasons, like patent infringement, actual or not.
There is a simple way to prevent patent lawyers from suing you for supposed patent infringement. Distribute your software from a jurisdiction in which software patents do not exist. South Africa is one of many such jurisdictions. Anecdote: at a conference, I asked a patent attorney what strategy to follow if your patented technology is only happening in the client software. He looked at me like I was drooling on myself and said: "Uhm... Well... Then you have a problem." IANAL, but I suppose the best strategy for the owners of a shaky software patent would be to make people believe that their technology is patented in many more jurisdictions than it actually is. Have fun, -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred "I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." Mahatma Gandhi