Well, to be fair, the question was "Is anything *we* are doing patentable?". What they are doing is as of yet undefined.<br><br>I'm opposed to software patents, generally, and have walked away from projects where a contingency was the attempt to patent what I had been working on, but what I had been working on in those cases *was* often rather novel and unique. Having Drupal as a platform, upon which you build novel solutions is similar to having PHP as a platform, upon which you build the CMS. Depending on what you are doing, there are probably multiple routes that you could go, and multiple ways that license compliance could be interpreted. As others have said, advice on this list is no substitute for proper legal counsel.<br>
<br>The OP did not specify what sort of work was being done. Presumably, because it is on this list, Drupal was in the mix there somewhere, but that doesn't necessarily mean much, AFAIK. But then, IANAL, and have little interest in imagining what direction a patent lawyer might want to take such things.<br>
<br>Best,<br>William<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 2:09 PM, Adam Mordecai <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mordecai@advomatic.com">mordecai@advomatic.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
The idea of patenting OPEN SOURCE software is sort of like worshipping<br>
The Devil in a Catholic Church full of parishioners in the middle of a<br>
service. The outcomes would be similar.<br>
<br>
If they want a closed source solution, then they should build their<br>
own rather than trying to copyright the blood sweat and tears of<br>
thousands of developers all over the world and claiming it as their own.<br>
<br>
When you see your client, please laugh in their face and pat them on<br>
the head as if they are a cute baby goat in a petting zoo.<br>
<br>
Adam Mordecai<br>
Advomatic Partner<br>
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AIM: AdamMordecai<br>
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Fax: (646) 472-7993<br>
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<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
On Dec 12, 2008, at 11:42 AM, Brett Evanson wrote:<br>
<br>
I'm working with a client that has asked me this question: "Is<br>
anything we are doing patentable?".<br>
<br>
What sort of things are patentable within open source development?<br>
What sort of issues are there with specific licenses? Where do I even<br>
go to start here?<br>
<br>
Any help is much appreciated.<br>
<br>
--<br>
Brett Evanson<br>
<a href="mailto:brettev@gmail.com">brettev@gmail.com</a><br>
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