“As long as the current PTO stance remains uncorrected, more and
more simple and obvious software “innovations” will become
patented. This threatens to limit the effectiveness of the free
software and open source software communities. It is widely agreed
that the PTO policies must be changed as soon as possible. However,
if the past is any guide to the future, any correction to this will
take a long time. Therefore, while pursuing a correction to the
policies and practices of the PTO is vital, we should be looking
for ways to relieve some pain in the interim.”
“I suggest that we seek out “Angels” in companies that are
making money from free software, such as Red Hat and VA Linux,
and via fundraising through LPF and GNU to fund a legal entity that
will file for and defend patents with automatic free license
granting similar to the provisions of the GPL.”