Received: from sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com ([172.29.43.191] helo=mx.sourceforge.net) by sfs-ml-1.v29.ch3.sourceforge.com with esmtp (Exim 4.76) (envelope-from ) id 1WmVpu-0002tx-2U for bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net; Mon, 19 May 2014 22:15:10 +0000 Received-SPF: pass (sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com: domain of gmail.com designates 209.85.217.171 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.217.171; envelope-from=bernd.jendrissek@gmail.com; helo=mail-lb0-f171.google.com; Received: from mail-lb0-f171.google.com ([209.85.217.171]) by sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com with esmtps (TLSv1:RC4-SHA:128) (Exim 4.76) id 1WmVps-0007ry-Ih for bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net; Mon, 19 May 2014 22:15:10 +0000 Received: by mail-lb0-f171.google.com with SMTP id 10so4556683lbg.16 for ; Mon, 19 May 2014 15:15:02 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.153.5.37 with SMTP id cj5mr9044311lad.48.1400537701952; Mon, 19 May 2014 15:15:01 -0700 (PDT) Sender: bernd.jendrissek@gmail.com Received: by 10.112.94.228 with HTTP; Mon, 19 May 2014 15:15:01 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: References: <5377892C.8080402@gmail.com> <5379FF38.4050909@certimix.com> <20140519144709.GA29574@netbook.cypherspace.org> Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 00:15:01 +0200 X-Google-Sender-Auth: HJfLxM4FyqrGcE7jE7pKTeQCuCY Message-ID: From: Bernd Jendrissek To: Mike Hearn Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Spam-Score: -1.5 (-) X-Spam-Report: Spam Filtering performed by mx.sourceforge.net. See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details. -1.5 SPF_CHECK_PASS SPF reports sender host as permitted sender for sender-domain 0.0 FREEMAIL_FROM Sender email is commonly abused enduser mail provider (bernd.jendrissek[at]gmail.com) -0.0 SPF_PASS SPF: sender matches SPF record 0.1 DKIM_SIGNED Message has a DKIM or DK signature, not necessarily valid -0.1 DKIM_VALID Message has at least one valid DKIM or DK signature X-Headers-End: 1WmVps-0007ry-Ih Cc: Bitcoin Dev Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] patents... X-BeenThere: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 22:15:10 -0000 On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 5:09 PM, Mike Hearn wrote: > Most companies (Google certainly included) have therefore banned their staff > from reading patents, Bitcoin is not Google though, and applying the same patent protocols to Bitcoin as in Google is drawing a false equivalence between the two. Google can survive single or triple damages, so it makes sense to hope that of those patents you necessarily violate due to the size of your operations, they attract only single damages. Google has so many fingers in so many pies that violating some patents is a question of when, not if. Bitcoin has a far narrower scope than trying to take over the world (and moon). Happy reading: http://endsoftpatents.org/2010/03/transcript-tridgell-patents/ TL;DR: If even single damages result in commercial death, you better pay attention to patents, to reduce the chances of accidentally running into one. (But Bitcoin is not ccache either - it's all about money and it isn't inconceivable that a patent infringement suit might not result in commercial death. The right answer here isn't as obvious as you make it out to be.)