Bruce Perens, seines Zeichen Open Source ‑Protagonist und Senior-Researcher für Security an der George Washington University, hat einen interessanten Aufsatz über den Effekt von Softwarepatenten auf die Standardisierung von Informationstechnologie geschrieben: „The Problem of Software Patents in Standards“.
Hier gibts den Abstract:
Patents, originally created to stimulate innovation, may now be having the opposite effect, at least in the software industry. Plagued by an exponential growth in software patents, many of which are not valid, software vendors and developers must navigate a potential minefield to avoid patent infringement and future lawsuits. Coupled with strategies to exploit this confusion over patents, especially in standards setting organizations, it appears that software advancement will become stifled unless legal action is taken to resolve the situation. This article examines the current situation facing software developers and users, the methods employed by standards setting organizations to address these problems, and recommends strategies for resolving the problem caused by software patents.