RE: tlug: RMS and Amazon...

["Manuel M. T. Chakravarty" <chak@example.com>]

"Frank Bennett" <bennett@example.com> wrote,

> >Scott M. Stone (sstone@example.com) wrote:
> >
> >I feel really happy that I don't know what the hula burger was :-)  I
> >bet it wasn't illegal to copy it, though.  After all, some fast food
> >joint was the first to bring out a bacon cheeseburger, but the others
> >all jumped on it pretty quickly and I bet they weren't sued for it.
> >A bacon cheeseburger is just too easy/obvious.  As Steve noted, that is
> >a point in the controversy over software patents - the patent office
> >seems to set the bar too low, so people are patenting the software
> >equivalent of a bacon cheeseburger.
> 
> In a nutshell:
> 
> If the Hula Burger is covered by a patent, you can be sued for
> selling a loop of fried pineapple and a slice of processed
> cheese on a hamburger bun.  It doesn't matter what you call
> the thing, you can't legally sell it without getting a license from
> the guy (and I'm sure it was a guy) who first filed the Hula Burger
> patent (in Japan) or who first stacked these four pieces of food
> up and eventually got around to filing for a patent on them
> (in the US).

Which would be one thing (outrageous, but surely accepted by
some), but if I am not mistaken[1], even if you just fry a
pineapple for yourself and put a slice of processed cheese
on top and put the result inside a hamburger bun and use (=
eat) it, they can already sue you.  They could even sue your
mom for making you a delicious Hula Burger!

Manuel

[1] At least software patents apply when you just use (as
    opposed to sell) a copy of the software for which the
    patent holder has not granted you the right to use it.

    It seems that programming par se seems to become an
    illegal activity, given that you are basically bound to
    infringe on some patents with the increasing amount of
    patents on trivial software schemes.
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