Barton's Blog

You've got to respect any individual willing to kick off a presentation with a impression of Kermit the frog.  And not just an impression but a rendition of Kermit singing the rainbow connection.  Well Ben Klemens, tasked with leading the Free Software Foundation's End Software Patents campaign, is just such an individual (the point?  Kermit lied.  There aren't so many songs about rainbows).

I was able to grab Ben after his talk at the Free Software Foundation's membership meeting last month and talk about ending software patents.  

My interview with Ben (10:27)  Listen (Mp3)   Listen (ogg)

"Is that a patent troll I see up there?" 

Who is Ben?

• Guest scholar at the Brookings institution
• Author of "Math you can't Use: Patents, Copyrights, and Software" 
  
• End Software Patents executive director
  
• Hacker
  

Some of the topics we tackle:

• Patent Trolls
• The protection that Copyright provides
• How software patents are all the Gipper's fault
• The Supreme Court has been extremely clear in their disapproval of software patents
• The question is do software patents promote the progress of science -  the answer is no

Extra Credit Reading - Where Sun Stands on Software Patents:

• Mike Dillon: General Counsel -  Cautiously Optimistic
  
• Greg Papadopoulos: CTO - Are Software Patents Useful?
• Jonathan Schwartz: CEO - Free advice for the Litigious
  
• Simon Phipps: Chief Open Source Office - Suns Chief Open Source Officer Talks Patents

 

Pau for now....