[Vorbis] patent issues with Vorbis

[Ralph Giles]

On Wed, Mar 30, 2005 at 03:36:12PM -0800, Dan Hollis wrote:

> yes really. if you declare someone infringing, yet dont sue them for many 
> many years, the courts are going to ask why.

Ah, I hadn't heard of that. (or appreciated the public declaration 
distinction in your previous post) Thanks!

> submarine patents are common, which is what you are probably thinking of. 
> however thats a completely different story (and the submarine patent 
> loophole was recently closed)

Yes, although I've also seen 'submarine patent' used more loosely in the 
software world for "we just didn't bother to tell you" whether or not 
the patent application is public. This is more of an issue with software 
idea patents because if can be very difficult to find patents that cover 
a particular algorithm if they're expressed in the terminology of 
another field.

Re closing the loophole, do you mean the quicker publication rules, or 
something more recent? I know there were some changes in 2003 addressing 
evergreening in the pharmaceutical industry, do those apply to software 
patents as well?

> this is quite a different situation than someone declaring to the public 
> outright that someone is infringing and then sitting around for many years 
> doing nothing about it. in the first case the courts would be lenient, 
> and in the second case the courts would be (and usually are) highly 
> skeptical.

 -r