Re: [DotGNU] the .NET API patent issue

[Norbert Bollow]

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> If the code is developed "Outside" the USA, then can I use it "Inside" the
> USA (probably not I would guess)?

If some code violates enforcable patent rights, it will not help users
in the US that the code was written outside the US.

- From my perspective, the important things are

1. to make sure that no DotGNU contributor is personally liable
   for patent infringement (that's the main reason why it is important
   to make sure that some things are done only outside the US).

2. to provide long-term solutions (i.e. technology that is not in
   any way US-patent-endangered) for getting full DotGNU functionality
   even in the US.  Unless USPTO surprises us positively by throwing
   out that API patent application, this will require the creation
   of alternatives to the US-patent-endangered APIs.

You may now be asking yourself why I care so much more about making
sure that MS cannot sue contributors than about making sure that MS
cannot sue users.  The reason is that for MS, suing users would be
inherently extremely stupid move.  MS is highly skilled in the area
of strategic marketing, and therefore I'm pretty sure that they're
not going to do that.

There is no way to tell which of the many patents and patent
applications in the USPTO database are purely defensive, and which
correspond to technologies on which MS truly wants to have monopoly
rights in the US.

Therefore, if indeed MS wants to enforce patent rights (as they have
stated publicly), the proper way to proceed (MS, you have someone
following the address@hidden discussions, haven't you? :-)
is for MS to send us a "cease and desist" letter which enumerates
precisely which are the technologies on which MS claims, and wants to
try to enforce, monopoly rights in the US.

If MS does this, and the "cease and desist" letter indeed contains
claims which appear to be possibly enforcable, the DotGNU project
will promptly create a distribution of a subset of DotGNU (which will
be lacking only in .NET compatibility features but not in essential
functionality) for distribution and use in the US; we would be careful
to ensure that this "US distribution of DotGNU" would not violate any
of the claims in the "cease and desist" letter which appear to be
possibly enforcable.

Of course, we would publish such a "cease and desist" letter, so it will
not be to Microsoft's best advantage to have it contain overly broad
claims.

Greetings, Norbert.

- -- 
Founder & Steering Committee member of http://gnu.org/projects/dotgnu/
Free Software Business Strategy Guide   --->  http://FreeStrategy.info
Norbert Bollow, Weidlistr.18, CH-8624 Gruet (near Zurich, Switzerland)
Tel +41 1 972 20 59        Fax +41 1 972 20 69       http://norbert.ch
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