Re: The GPL and Patents: ROFL

[Hyman Rosen]

On 8/17/2010 5:13 PM, RJack wrote:
> Write your source code anyway you want. Sanskrit or ancient Mayan if
> you so desire. Release it under the GPL and claim that it prevents a
> patent from being exercised.

What in the world are you talking about? There is no "claim"
involved. When you release code under the GPL, you are also
granting patent rights to any patents you control that are
embodied in the work. Of course you cannot release code which
embodies someone else's patent under the GPL and claim that
thereby the patent cannot be exercised.

> I'll leave it to you to demonstrate how it is *possible* for a computer
> program to violate a limitation of the patent without using "implemented
> line-by-line instructions"

Well, you can prove anything by lying, can't you? The decision in
Atari v. Nintendo <http://digital-law-online.info/cases/24PQ2D1015.htm>
demonstrates exactly what you claim is impossible, because you are
ignoring the "embodied inextricably" requirement. Here's what the
decision says:
    If the patentable process is embodied inextricably in the
    line-by-line instructions of the computer program, however,
    then the process merges <975 F.2d 840> with the expression
    and precludes copyright protection.
    ...
    Nintendo’s 10NES program contains more than an idea or
    expression necessarily incident to an idea. Nintendo
    incorporated within the 10NES program creative organization
    and sequencing unnecessary to the lock and key function.
    Nintendo chose arbitrary programming instructions and
    arranged them in a unique sequence to create a purely
    arbitrary data stream. This data stream serves as the key
    to unlock the NES. Nintendo may protect this creative
    element of the 10NES under copyright.