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                    *          DB/C Newsletter          *
                    *           October 2006            *
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                              News and Comments

     I've written about my negative opinion of software patents in previous
newsletters.  Generally, I hold a very low opinion of those companies that
engage in software patent and copyright litigation for the purpose of
putting competitors out of business or for profit.  Note that I have no
problem with defensive software patent collection, or with suing those who
steal software.  It's the use of a badly broken patent system to harm others
that I object to.

     SCO is the poster child for bad behavior in this area.  SCO was taken
over by lawyers motivated to make money via suing IBM over very weak claims
that a few lines of code were stolen from software that it was unclear SCO
actually even owned.  Whenever anyone asks about SCO, I tell them that I
believe the company is no longer focused on technology, and therefore is
not a good choice as a technology partner.

     Unisys was another bad actor in the area of software patents.  Long
after the GIF file format was accepted as a standard, Unisys acquired a
fundamental LZW compression patent which affected GIF files.  Unisys used
the patent to sue various companies who could afford to pay.  Fortunately,
the last of the GIF patents expired this month.

     There is a new bad actor on the scene - IBM.  This month they
announced that they are suing Amazon over five very general patents
covering e-commerce.  Here is a link describing their lawsuit -

     http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/20481.wss

After a quick perusal of the IBM patents, it is apparent to me that
IBM has very weak claims, but with the sad state of patent law in the
United States, one never knows what the outcome might be.  I suspect
many readers will say that they don't need to worry, IBM won't ever
interfere in their particular e-commerce software.  I strongly disagree
with such an attitude.  If IBM is emboldened by a big success in suing
Amazon, who's to say that they wouldn't hire a big law firm who would
go after everyone who's infringing on these patents?  Would they come
after your company or mine?  I certainly hope not, but it's not outside
the realm of possibility.

     We continue to work on DB/C DX 15.  We'll have a preview of planned
features in an upcoming newsletter.

                                                     don.wills@dbcsoftware.com


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                          DB/C DX Class Schedule

   Class:     DB/C DX Fundamentals
   Date:      January, 2007
   Location:  Woodridge, Illinois

For information, send email to admin@dbcsoftware.com.


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