Re: Thinking outside the box - send envelope first

I don't think "there could be a patent issue with that" is a
reasonable counter-argument.

One could speculate on that sort of thing without limit.

And who knows the patent holder might well get excited by your great
idea which utilizes their patent in a new realm such as spam and fund
you etc. Or might donate that use as a public good or go red hat with
it, etc.

Heck, AT&T donated their patent for "independently updateable
rectangular screen regions" aka "windows" back around 1980 to the
public domain as one notable example. Granted they were legally
forbidden from going into the software business at the time but their
reasoning was reasonable, they felt it would do more good for AT&T to
let a thousand flowers bloom than to try to control and develop the
technology themselves.

It's a non-argument, patent owners LIKE when people come up with new
uses for their patents.

They just don't like it when someone uses that IP without their
permission. Period. That's all one can really say and it's kind of
trite to say.


-- 
        -Barry Shein

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