Title
Open Source Software and Software Patents
Author
Jason V Morgan
Date
1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2002)
(Original Publish Date: 2002)
Abstract
Software patents arose from a history of turmoil with established legitimacy in the business and legal worlds. Now they threaten the future of the Open Source Software (OSS) community, especially with the increased inmportance of software standards and the change in attitude in the organizations forming these standards. The OSS community does not exercise much influence over the policymakers who have legitimized software patents because of differences between the two groups' motivations; the OSS community is not speaking the language of the policymakers. There are many possible actions the OSS community could take, but an OSS patent pool is the best way for the OSS community to leverage both teh patent system and the OSS culture to help protect the future of OSS.