CNET News: Anonymous Backer Funds Patent Foe

“Bruce Perens has found what every open-source activist needs: a
sugar daddy.

“A sponsor has provided Perens with a $50,000 annuity to support
his advocacy for open-source organizations and his opposition to
the software patents that he says are stymieing industry standards
on which open-source groups depend.

“‘I’m very concerned about software patents,’ Perens said. ‘They
remain a blocker for open-source software. It’s really difficult
for us to coexist with them, and what we’re trying to do right now
is mitigate the problem in the standards arena by encouraging
standards organizations to engineer standards that are
royalty-free…'”

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