 | | | Metaballs - regarding patent. | Metaballs - regarding patent. 2005-04-15 - By Alastair Hearsum
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Alright I'll stop it now.
-- --Original Message-- --
From: Brad Friedman [mailto:xsibrad@(protected)]
Sent: 15 April 2005 11:29
To: XSI@(protected)
Subject: Re: Metaballs - regarding patent.
You really don't want to start a debate on this topic here. Trust me.
Software patents are one of the most hotly debated topics in the
IT\political realm right now. Its pretty much guaranteed to descend into a
flame war no matter how mature the discussion group. There is a ton of
material out there, available with a simple google on the term "software
patents." I'd go that route to learn more. But you can take it for
granted: This is not a simple problem with a simple solution. Otherwise,
it would be overwith already.
-brad
Alastair Hearsum wrote:
Surely any original innovative idea should be patentable whether software
based or not? I'm not defending Quantel by the way.
-- --Original Message-- --
From: kim aldis [ HYPERLINK
"mailto:kim@(protected)"mailto:kim@(protected)]
Sent: 15 April 2005 10:59
To: HYPERLINK "mailto:XSI@(protected)"XSI@(protected)
Subject: RE: Metaballs - regarding patent.
Specifically software patents, not patents in general. For a good example,
remember back to Quantel's famous assertion that they had a patent on
something like 'the writing and reading of values to a framebuffer'. They
attempted to sue a couple of companies a few years ago, most notably a
Japanese company, as test cases. Their assertions weren't upheld but because
their patent was found to be invalid, rather than because a court thought it
was dumb that any one company should hold restrictive rights to such a
fundamental action.
Remember, every action you take on a modern computer requires that something
is read or written to a framebuffer, even just moving a mouse. It's like
holding a patent on crossing the road or waking up in the morning.
If that particular patent had been upheld then one of two things would have
happened; Quantel would have asked for money in return for a license or they
would have used it restrictively such that only they could manuacture
anything that used the patented item. The former, you'd be paying more money
for your computer, the latter, you'd be buying kit only from Quantel, which
is kind of scary.
Here's a few views on the subject:-
HYPERLINK
"http://www.base.com/software-patents/examples.html"http://www.base.com/soft
ware-patents/examples.html for some interesting
examples
HYPERLINK
"http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/patents.html"http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/pa
tents.html for a good overview.
-- --Original Message-- --
From: HYPERLINK "mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)"owner-xsi@(protected)
[ HYPERLINK "mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)"mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)]
On Behalf Of Alastair Hearsum
Sent: 15 April 2005 10:12
To: ' HYPERLINK "mailto:XSI@(protected)"XSI@(protected)'
Subject: RE: Metaballs - regarding patent.
Sorry if this is a heretical question and if I haven't
thought about this deeply enough but what is wrong with the
idea of patents?
Alastair Hearsum
-- --Original Message-- --
From: Joe Saltzman [ HYPERLINK
"mailto:joe@(protected)"mailto:joe@(protected)]
Sent: 14 April 2005 20:39
To: XSI mail list
Subject: Metaballs - regarding patent.
I just did a simple google search.... this is what I came up with.
Seems like GE may hold the patent -- they might have become
aggressive in its enforcement -- do you want to take a chance
on an infringement case with GE? Could you afford to fight
such a case? I don't think most people could do.
Just another reason why software patents are not a good thing IMHO.
Cheers,
Joe Saltzman
Subject 5.11: What is the status of the patent on the "marching cubes"
algorithm?
United States Patent Number: 4,710,876
Date of Patent: Dec. 1, 1987
Inventors: Harvey E. Cline, William E. Lorensen
Assignee: General Electric Company
Title: "System and Method for the Display of Surface
Structures Contained Within the Interior Region of a Solid Body"
Filed: Jun. 5, 1985
United States Patent Number: 4,885,688
Date of Patent: Dec. 5, 1989
Inventor: Carl R. Crawford
Assignee: General Electric Company
Title: "Minimization of Directed Points Generated in
Three-Dimensional Dividing Cubes Method"
Filed: Nov. 25, 1987
You wrote:
I've heard this before and it seems rather absurd. Metaballs
were in Soft 3D and Houdini before Rem Inforgaphica patented them.
I have never heard of patents being retroactive.
- -- --Original Message-- --
From: HYPERLINK "mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)"owner-xsi@(protected) [
HYPERLINK "mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)"owner-xsi@(protected)] On
Behalf Of peterb
Sent: April 14, 2005 1:16 PM
To: HYPERLINK "mailto:XSI@(protected)"XSI@(protected)
Subject: Re: Metaballs....
And it didnt stop any competition for implementing them either...
- -- -- Original Message -- --
From: "Andi Farhall" HYPERLINK
"mailto:andi@(protected)"<andi@(protected)>
To: HYPERLINK "mailto:XSI@(protected)"<XSI@(protected)>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 7:04 AM
Subject: RE: Metaballs....
daft question i know but which algorithm did soft|3d use? There was
obviously no patent problem there so how come now.....
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=819453911-15042005>Alright I'll stop it now.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-- --Original Message-- --<BR><B>From:</B> Brad Friedman
[mailto:xsibrad@(protected)]<BR><B>Sent:</B> 15 April 2005 11:29<BR><B>To:</B>
XSI@(protected)<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: Metaballs - regarding
patent.<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>You really don't want to start a debate on this
topic here. Trust me. Software patents are one of the most hotly
debated topics in the IT\political realm right now. Its pretty much
guaranteed to descend into a flame war no matter how mature the discussion
group. There is a ton of material out there, available with a simple
google on the term "software patents." I'd go that route to learn
more. But you can take it for granted: This is not a simple
problem with a simple solution. Otherwise, it would be overwith
already.<BR><BR>-brad<BR><BR>Alastair Hearsum wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE
cite=mid626E00731F12D411B80300508B5BBC0F01F2623E@(protected)
type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Surely any original innovative idea should be
patentable whether software
based or not? I'm not defending Quantel by the way.
-- --Original Message-- --
From: kim aldis [<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="mailto:kim@(protected)"
>mailto:kim@(protected)</A>]
Sent: 15 April 2005 10:59
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:XSI@(protected)">XSI
@(protected)</A>
Subject: RE: Metaballs - regarding patent.
Specifically software patents, not patents in general. For a good example,
remember back to Quantel's famous assertion that they had a patent on
something like 'the writing and reading of values to a framebuffer'. They
attempted to sue a couple of companies a few years ago, most notably a
Japanese company, as test cases. Their assertions weren't upheld but because
their patent was found to be invalid, rather than because a court thought it
was dumb that any one company should hold restrictive rights to such a
fundamental action.
Remember, every action you take on a modern computer requires that something
is read or written to a framebuffer, even just moving a mouse. It's like
holding a patent on crossing the road or waking up in the morning.
If that particular patent had been upheld then one of two things would have
happened; Quantel would have asked for money in return for a license or they
would have used it restrictively such that only they could manuacture
anything that used the patented item. The former, you'd be paying more money
for your computer, the latter, you'd be buying kit only from Quantel, which
is kind of scary.
Here's a few views on the subject:-
<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://www.base.com/software-patents
/examples.html">http://www.base.com/software-patents/examples.html</A> for some
interesting
examples
<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/patents.html
">http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/patents.html</A> for a good overview.
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">-- --Original Message-- --
From: <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)"
>owner-xsi@(protected)</A>
[<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)">mailto
:owner-xsi@(protected)</A>] On Behalf Of Alastair Hearsum
Sent: 15 April 2005 10:12
To: '<A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:XSI@(protected)">XSI
@(protected)</A>'
Subject: RE: Metaballs - regarding patent.
Sorry if this is a heretical question and if I haven't
thought about this deeply enough but what is wrong with the
idea of patents?
Alastair Hearsum
-- --Original Message-- --
From: Joe Saltzman [<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="mailto:joe@(protected)
.com">mailto:joe@(protected)</A>]
Sent: 14 April 2005 20:39
To: XSI mail list
Subject: Metaballs - regarding patent.
I just did a simple google search.... this is what I came up with.
Seems like GE may hold the patent -- they might have become
aggressive in its enforcement -- do you want to take a chance
on an infringement case with GE? Could you afford to fight
such a case? I don't think most people could do.
Just another reason why software patents are not a good thing IMHO.
Cheers,
Joe Saltzman
Subject 5.11: What is the status of the patent on the "marching cubes"
algorithm?
United States Patent Number: 4,710,876
Date of Patent: Dec. 1, 1987
Inventors: Harvey E. Cline, William E. Lorensen
Assignee: General Electric Company
Title: "System and Method for the Display of Surface
Structures Contained Within the Interior Region of a Solid Body"
Filed: Jun. 5, 1985
United States Patent Number: 4,885,688
Date of Patent: Dec. 5, 1989
Inventor: Carl R. Crawford
Assignee: General Electric Company
Title: "Minimization of Directed Points Generated in
Three-Dimensional Dividing Cubes Method"
Filed: Nov. 25, 1987
You wrote:
I've heard this before and it seems rather absurd. Metaballs
were in Soft 3D and Houdini before Rem Inforgaphica patented them.
I have never heard of patents being retroactive.
- -- --Original Message-- --
From: <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)"
>owner-xsi@(protected)</A> [<A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto
:owner-xsi@(protected)">owner-xsi@(protected)</A>] On
Behalf Of peterb
Sent: April 14, 2005 1:16 PM
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:XSI@(protected)">XSI
@(protected)</A>
Subject: Re: Metaballs....
And it didnt stop any competition for implementing them either...
- -- -- Original Message -- --
From: "Andi Farhall" <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:andi@(protected)
.uk"><andi@(protected)></A>
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:XSI@(protected)"><XSI
@(protected)></A>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 7:04 AM
Subject: RE: Metaballs....
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">daft question i know but which
algorithm did soft|3d use? There was
obviously no patent problem there so how come now.....
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">--
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