
Why I hate software patents: IBM patents trim() - mdasen
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,475,086.PN.&OS=PN/7,475,086&RS=PN/7,475,086
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seiji
"IBM does X" is pleasing to look at, but remember one person decided to make
it happen. One person said "hey, I want to patent this idea" and everybody
else got in line to help make it happen.

IBM has a patent culture. It encourages each employee to file as many patents
as possible. When you submit a patent internally, you get a one-time bonus.
When it goes from the internal lawyers to the patent office, you get another
bonus. When your patent is awarded months or years later, you get another one-
time bonus. If you file a certain number of patents, you get a
certificate/plaque and more money.

(true story) On the internal IBM blogs, I saw someone was frustrated by their
email software. Their immediate response? File a patent for how they want it
fixed. Their problem? They hit "send" by mistake before the email was
complete. Their patent? A yes/no confirmation popup after hitting send.

Another way to look at the "IBM has more patents than god" issue is from a
per-employee financial standpoint. Their employees may need extra cash, so
they are filing patents as fast as possible.

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smoody
in my humble opinion, you should be happy IBM patented it because clearly
they're not patent trolls and it prevents/prevented patent trolls from
patenting the same idea.

in big companies, patents are sort-of like trading cards. they're are used
defensively. so, if oracle or someone else came after ibm for a database-
related patent, IBM could make a patent trade to prevent expensive action from
being taken.

it's the corporate equivalent of a superpowers' arms race. they're designed to
be a deterrent and aren't (often) acquired for first strike purposes.

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jpark
Sorry, but IBM is one of the largest patent trolls in the world. You just
don't hear about it because they target corporations who don't have an
extensive IP portfolio to fight back with and cross license.

Here's what's happened at the company I used to work at and what happens at
many other companies:

1) IBM comes and says hey you're violating these 10 patents. Pay up.

2) Targeted company goes, hey we're not. Company spends X amount of money and
tons of time to prove that they're not violating the patents.

3) IBM goes, oh ok, yeah you're right. So you're not violating those 10
patents. Well, here's another 10 we think you're violating. Now...we can do
this forever or you can just pay us $1M/year and have us go away.

4) Targeted company does cost-benefit analysis of legal fees to continue to
fight IBM indefinitely or they can pay this "license" fee. Company decides
pays $1M to "license" IBM patents

oh and postscript, Targeted company wises up and decides to build up its own
IP portfolio as a defensive measure and fills the patent system with even more
useless patents.

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yason
Big companies win most of the time when there are lawsuits involved. But
obviously we can't make enforcing a patent harder as a function of the size of
the inventing company.

It's a tricky question to ensure "fair" treatment of patent settlements.

Clearly patent trolls with silly patents such as the automatic trim()-on-
insert should be banished. In fact, I can't think of ever reading about any CS
patent that would have actually been useful and truly an idea worth the grant.

On the other hand, were there more burden of proof placed on the inventor's
side, this would discriminate small inventors in traditional patentable fields
(like mechanical or engineering constructions). Big companies could just
"steal" their ideas and count on them being unable to enforce the patent.

I think the way of the future would be just to give up on the illusion of
"intellectual 'property'". Patents don't seem to be incentive when it comes to
inventing; instead they seem to incentivise commercialisation. However, all
smart people I know would invent new things regardless of any monetary reward
or lack thereof.

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jeeringmole
"Help the USPTO find the information relevant to assessing the claims of
pending patent applications. Become a community reviewer and improve the
quality of patents."

<http://www.peertopatent.org/>

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bayareaguy
I've never understood why patents include so much stuff without practical
relationship to the idea in question. In this case the patent covers _a
computer implemented method of automatically removing space characters from
data being entered into a database_ and yet the detailed description includes
pages of gibberish like this:

    
    
      With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrating a data
      processing system is depicted in which the present invention may be
      implemented. Data processing system 300 is an example of a client
      computer. Data processing system 300 employs a peripheral component
      interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted
      example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated
      Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be
      used. Processor 302 and main memory 304 are connected to PCI local bus
      306 through PCI bridge 308. PCI bridge 308 also may include an
      integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor
      302. Additional connections to PCI local bus 306 may be made through
      direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the
      depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 310, Small computer
      system interface (SCSI) host bus adapter 312, and expansion bus
      interface 314 are connected to PCI local bus 306 by direct component
      connection. In contrast, audio adapter 316, graphics adapter 318, and
      audio/video adapter 319 are connected to PCI local bus 306 by add-in
      boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface 314
      provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter 320, modem 322,
      and additional memory 324. SCSI host bus adapter 312 provides a
      connection for hard disk drive 326, tape drive 328, and CD-ROM drive
      330. Typical PCI local bus implementations will support three or four
      PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.
    

What does any of that have to do with removing whitespace from text strings
before they are stored?

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noonespecial
The "legalease" is a kind of programming language. Its not human readable. All
that garbage is inherited from a parent class.

Patent->technology->computers->text.lets_patent_chomp_and_see_what_happens.

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jpwagner
anachronism: starting any patent with "a computer implemented method..."

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gaius
Errm, according to that what they've patented is not-trim.

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wyday
Can you clarify, this is what I read: "A computer implemented method of
automatically removing space characters from data being entered into a
database system comprising ..."

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KrisJordan
The patent is for a database column setting which will 'auto-trim' all data.
So instead of having to call the trim function every time you insert or update
your database this patented setting does it automatically. Hard to believe
these things get patents.

~~~
gaius
To be fair there's been CHAR and VARCHAR for 20 years, but no-one has done
what they're proposing. IBM probably make everyone patent everything they do.

~~~
ambition
Not quite. IBM provides strong incentives to patent inventions. It also makes
it very easy for an engineer to do so.

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jwilliams
The legitimacy of this patent aside - how does IBM think it will benefit from
the protection this patent gives?

Just seems like patent cruft than patent misuse.

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kwamenum86
You hate software patents because some companies abuse them? Do you also hate
pain killers because some drug addicts abuse them?

