Patent policy comment

I have been programming for 20 years, or about two thirds of my life.
In those early years, I have since learned, I unknowingly violated at
least two software patents--probably many more.

Had patent enforcement been allowed to stifle my efforts at that early
stage, I would not be a successful IT professional today...  And yet it
would have been hard to argue at that time that it would have made much
difference to my life or anybody elses.

The same goes for the Internet.  We know where we are today, and it's
hard to see how we could have gotten here without freely implementable
standards.  I have yet to see any credible argument for the notion that 
the future is different from the past in this respect.


Jeroen Vermeulen

Received on Wednesday, 27 November 2002 10:25:47 UTC