[ODE] Quickstep and patents

[Jon Watte (ODE)]

Ignacio García Fernández wrote:
> You have many examples of funny stuff, such as the XOR gate 
>
>   

It was actually the XOR cursor, and it was actually novel (not 
published) back when it was filed, in the early '70s.

> The gif algorithm or mp3 are funny also. Mp3 is just an application of the 
> fourier transform.
>
>   

Please, can we stop discussing patents here? Or, if we're going to 
discuss patents, can we at least do it from a position of first-hand 
knowledge?

Saying "mp3 is just an application of the fourier transform" is like 
saying "a car is just some shaped steel." The parts that are patent have 
to do with psycho-acoustics, quantization and noise shaping, which were 
all quite valid advances when the patents were filed. The reason we 
think they're "obvious" now is that, because the company gets protection 
from the patents, they can afford to publish and let their techniques be 
known. If we didn't have patents, we'd have large bastions of corporate 
secrets, and nobody would willingly publish any of their internal 
knowledge. And a corporate secret can last for a hundred years (Coca 
Cola receipe, anyone?) rather than a patent, which is 20 years from 
application or 17 years from issue, depending on where/when.

Ignacio, to me you're just coming across as an uneducated fanboy 
mis-quoting empty phrases without any personal knowledge on the subject 
matter. I believe you'd actually want to be seen as something more than 
that.

Cheers,

          / h+