Pavel,
If it infringes on someone's patent, even if you did it in a clean room
and wrote it from scratch, they could come after anyone in the US. You
should visit www.uspto.gov and review the sections of U.S.C. (United
States Code) covering patents. You could also call my patent attorney's
and consult with them, and I'll even pay for their time helping you with
this (@ 300.00/hour) so you don't inadvertantly step on a land mine. If
you want free legal advice, you should ask a lawyer who actually
practices patent law rather than rely on folks who have not.
801-222-9129/9635 -- ask for Andrew McCullough and tell him I asked you
to call him and I will pay for the time you use consulting on the
details -- he could help you craft your project so it does not
infringe.
Bottom line is that in the US, if you infringe a patent, they can sue
you, anyone who ships the infringing code, distributors, partners, etc.,
etc. Most US companies are pretty sneaky and will wait until you ship
about 1,000,000 copies before suing the offender so they will be certain
they will get a huge damages claim (and can claim to take more money).
I know most folks think TRG is a software company, but it's also a law
firm, and I run a full law firm and legal practice out of TRG as well as
develop software. We handle almost all of the ACLU lawsuits filed in
Utah against The Utah State Government, Utah Highway Patrol, Mormon
Church, Brigham Young University, and we litigate all types of cases all
the time. We are the ones who are litigating in favor of the fight
clubs, strip joints, and private clubs in Utah as well. We also handle
all of the First Ammendment pronography cases in Utah. Andrew, who I am
referring you to, is also the libertarian canididate for Attorney
General for the State of Utah -- so you will be getting the very best
legal advice.
There are ways to achieve what you want and code up something that may
do the same thing, but does not infringe enough on their patens for them
to sue anyone. The trick with patents is not to copy identical
"methods". I would be willing to allow you to talk to one of our
in-house patent lawyers and pick up the tab, then you will be getting
"real" legal advice and not thi shithouse lawyer talk on the internet.
:-)
Jeff
Pavel Machek wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> > Let's not talk about ripping off patents, at least not on the "formal"
> > list.
>
> I'm not talking about ripping off patents, but unless someone tells me
> *exact patent numbers* covering v.34 and what it means for me wanting
> to write v.34 stack myself, I'm going to ignore the issue. And
> everyone else should do exactly the same, patents around v.34 are FUD,
> nothing more.
>
> This is not stealing. If I write my own software from scratch, I can't
> see how it violates someone's rights.
> Pavel
> --
> I'm pavel@ucw.cz. "In my country we have almost anarchy and I don't care."
> Panos Katsaloulis describing me w.r.t. patents at discuss@linmodems.org
>
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