Re: Patents, IETF and Network Operators

[Jorge Amodio <jmamodio () gmail com>]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 11:32 AM, Shane Ronan <sronan () fattoc com> wrote:
> The real question is why Patent something?

Patents are a good source of revenue for companies that invest a lot
on R&D and  to create "intellectual property"
(well sometimes not that much).

As far as I know in the US you can patent any "original idea" (even
the best approach to catch brain farts with a spoon) regardless of its
application, usability, stupidity or interoperability.

Some companies need to keep their attorneys entertained, but if by a
chance you happen to "use" somebody else "original idea" in your
product, the inventor of the "original idea" has the right to block
you (many file patents just for that) to use the idea or request the
payment of royalties until the protection expires (17 or 20 years
after filing depending if it was after or before 1995, some design
patents expire in 14 years) and you in theory are able to use the idea
but probably it will be to old.

Jorge