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Originally Posted by kennyc
My opinion is that design and software patents should never be issues,
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design patents? wouldn't that diminish the existence of iconic shapes and figures?
fwiw, groklaw had a
-epic rant- that said the same today. Pretty good.
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Remember back when Microsoft helped SCO afford lawyers in the very early days of the SCO saga? What was the goal there? To slap royalties on Linux and get rid of the GPL, so as to block Open Source's free development model, and make it so expensive no one would want to use it any more.
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now they have a new weapon of choice -- trade dress and design patents -- thanks to Apple. And that is why this case is so appalling, because Apple has now opened up a new area for litigation and exclusion.
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The intention is to tie it up with royalties and IP law restrictions that limit what it can offer so that it dies there in that corner. Steve Jobs said so, that he intended to kill Android. We need to take him at his word. That is what we are watching play out.
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Competition is fierce. And not always pretty. I understand how it seems to a de centralized bunch without access to high powered lawyers to fight for them like Samsung does. But he undercuts his point later in the commentary...and it is reason that I think some limited design patents have to exist. Reward research and first movers:
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The market has spoken. It wants simple and clean design. Yes, Apple was the one that demonstrated that taste matters to the public. But now that everyone wants that, should it really be the law that only Apple can provide it?
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