Patents and XML
There has been plenty of discussion recently on patents filed by Microsoft in the area of XML for Office XML Schema and XML based scripting. A search of the patent office's database shows that those that contain XML in the title and those that just reference XML as a technology continue to be submitted from numerous different companies across the software industry at an increasing rate. The patent process serves an important role - to ensure that innovation is spread throughout society by openly sharing knowledge, whilst at the same time protecting the investment of those who have put the time and effort into the innovative creation. Without this ability, companies and individuals across all industries would keep information hidden so as not to be upserted by a competitor. On the whole for society to progress in a competitive environment patents are a necessary thing. Of course there are the ones that you wished that you have filed first, the useless and the totally bizarre , but patents like art are all subjective in their qualify to improve society. Software innovations are no less patentable then any other creation. It will be interesting to see how the new W3C patent policy affects the future development and innovations of XML technologies in the industry.
Comments
- Anonymous
February 23, 2004
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
More and more people are turning theyre back on Americass because of loonacy like this. If its not breaching UN treaties (militarising space, kyoto treaty ignorance the lot) its stupid things like patents. - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
Im gona pack some popcorn and watch the Americass isolate and impload itself its gona be one of those kodak moments. - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
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February 23, 2004
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February 23, 2004
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February 23, 2004
Feel free to make my comments a single post as there is no "edit" functionality. - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
Ferris Beuller apparently has nothing useful to do... - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
Exactly how does the patent system "ensure that innovation is spread throughout society by openly sharing knowledge" ? - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
Yes I have nothing to do, just like the blogger who obviously has nothing useful to do except, well, blog. - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
Since you are blogging too Jason I would think you have nothing useful to do either.
Cockmungler. - Anonymous
February 23, 2004
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
February 24, 2004
Or how about protecting yourself by making a stable workhorse of a product. - Anonymous
February 24, 2004
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February 24, 2004
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February 24, 2004
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February 24, 2004
Another quick point on implementation...in software, if you did need a working model, a small "toy" application would suffice. This is worlds apart from a decent-quality commercial application. That's what I mean when I say implementation is the hard part. - Anonymous
February 24, 2004
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
February 28, 2004
The problem is that patents are expensive. The end result is that the big companies can afford to patent something that has little merit and then threaten to sue all and sundry. A 1-man company or hobbiest doesn't have that free capital and is destined to be at the mercy of the big companies.
Patents are intended to help the little guy compete with the big guys. They are failing in this purpose.
Do you really think that long filenames in VFAT is an innovation? The Microsoft persona has enough problems with it's customer-facing image at the moment without patenting stupid things.