[consulting] Patenting Drupal solutions

[The Golden Condor !]

Note a legal advice, but more of based on my own experience and
observations: you can patent what you're doing if hasn't been done before.
You don't nomally patent software, but you patent methods to solve a problem
or to generate something. So while your code may still be covered under GPL
or a similar license, there is nothing to stop you from patenting it if you
haven't distributed it yet. But even if it has been published, I think in US
or Canada (forgot which) you still have up to one year to apply for the
patent.

Needless to say, I am a software developer and I concure that software
patents are evil :O)

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:09 PM, Adam Mordecai <mordecai at advomatic.com>wrote:

> The idea of patenting OPEN SOURCE software is sort of like worshipping
> The Devil in a Catholic Church full of parishioners in the middle of a
> service. The outcomes would be similar.
>
> If they want a closed source solution, then they should build their
> own rather than trying to copyright the blood sweat and tears of
> thousands of developers all over the world and claiming it as their own.
>
> When you see your client, please laugh in their face and pat them on
> the head as if they are a cute baby goat in a petting zoo.
>
> Adam Mordecai
> Advomatic Partner
> ---------
> AIM: AdamMordecai
> Main: (303) 733-0215
> Cell: (646) 625-9010
> Fax: (646) 472-7993
> ----------
> Advomatic
> 243 5th Ave, Suite 460
> New York, NY 10016
> http://www.advomatic.com
>
> On Dec 12, 2008, at 11:42 AM, Brett Evanson wrote:
>
> I'm working with a client that has asked me this question: "Is
> anything we are doing patentable?".
>
> What sort of things are patentable within open source development?
> What sort of issues are there with specific licenses? Where do I even
> go to start here?
>
> Any help is much appreciated.
>
> --
> Brett Evanson
> brettev at gmail.com
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