Did you know software patents are probably the single biggest threat to free software's future? If not, please visit Endsoftpatents.org and learn how you can help end them.
What are software patents? As we discussed in episode 7, they're quite hard to nail down. When it comes down to it, a software patent is something that does little to encourage innovation, but does much to discourage both from a legal liability standpoint and from a monetary perspective.
If you are asked to help patenting software, write the patent in such a way that anyone can use it, or do not cooperate with the patenting process. In the free software world, we're hopeful that software patents are realized to be as useless as we think they are. Otherwise, we all will suffer as less and less innovation will be produced in what has been the most fertile ground for invention since steel was invented.
