Can someone patent the
idea of clicking an icon to open a window?
Software companies are scrambling to file thousands of patents related to how software is used.
While those companies may never create products based on those patents, the restrictions those
patents might place on other software companies or open source software development is a
major issue.
26
Linux First Steps Part I
In the alliance between Microsoft and Novell, both companies??™ large patent portfolios have become
a major issue of concern among the free and open source community. The fear is that those patents
(in other words, the idea represented by code and not the code itself) could be used to claim a tax
on every piece of open source software that is freely distributed today.
To deal with the patent issue, the recently released GNU General Public License 3 (GPLv3) includes
wording that restricts anyone who delivers software covered under the GPL to exercise their patent
rights against those who use or redistribute that software. The hope of the Free Software Foundation
(http://gplv3.fsf.org) is that this will definitively answer the patent issues that might restrict
free redistribution of GPL code.
On another front in the patent wars, the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
(www.
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