[OpenID] OpenID and patents [was: OpenID 2.0 is final]

[Eric Norman]

On Dec 7, 2007, at 12:05 AM, Johannes Ernst wrote:

> Actually, I think it is worse ;-) I have yet to see a lawyer who would
> say "this piece of code does not violate any IP" because it's
> basically impossible given the number of patents there is, the much
> larger number of patent interpretations that there are and might be,
> and the number of jurisdictions in which those might have been filed
> by parties nobody has ever heard of.
>
> The best defense here is in numbers. Which means:
>
> **
> If you have not signed a non-assert but can easily do so, PLEASE DO
> and send it to the OpenID Foundation.
> The more billions you have on your balance sheet, the better ;-)
> **
> Further say that you will do all sorts of nasty things to those people
> who are playing patent troll on published OpenID specifications.
>
> That's the real deterrent.

Someone's got to ask.  What weapons does the OpenID Foundation
have that can be used to inflict all those sorts of nasty things
should the need arise?

The patent troll will be waving an issued patent in front of the
judge.  What do you have to wave back?

I'm definitely not defending the patent system.  I know it's
severely broken as far as software is concerned.  But I'm not
the one that needs to be convinced.

Peter Williams has a point about today's "intellectual property"
rathole, you know.

Eric Norman