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Xref: sserve comp.org.eff.talk:9713 misc.int-property:738 comp.unix.bsd:7363 Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,misc.int-property,alt.suit.att-bsdi,comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!sgiblab!sdd.hp.com!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!mcgregor From: mcgregor@netcom.com (Scott Mcgregor) Subject: Re: Patents: What they are. What they aren't. Other factors. Message-ID: <1992Nov2.194920.29854@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) References: <1992Oct27.172831.22782@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <id.SSJU.KXL@ferranti.com> <1992Oct31.043526.11350@fcom.cc.utah.edu> Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 19:49:20 GMT Lines: 23 In article <1992Oct31.043526.11350@fcom.cc.utah.edu> terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C) writes: >Look-and-feel suits are based on a platform of copyright infringement, not >patent infringement. This is the type of "software patent" I'm against, since >copyright protection can be maintained *much* longer than patent protection. > >The benefit of a patent-like mechanism with copyrights disallowed in this case >is disclosure; it's not always possible to reverse engineer, and trading the >authors disclosure for a time-limited monopoly is a fair trade. Would a design patent (as opposed to utility patents we have been talking about here) suit your objectives? -- Scott L. McGregor mcgregor@netcom.com President tel: 408-985-1824 Prescient Software, Inc. fax: 408-985-1936 3494 Yuba Avenue San Jose, CA 95117-2967