Poly Haven
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Open Source under attack from patent trolls
🕑 Added 2019-10-23 08:43:34 +0000 UTCThe GNOME Foundation has recently been targeted by a patent troll (Rothschild Patent Imaging, LLC) for developing the Shotwell image viewer software, which has been in use for over 10 years.
We don't know the details of their case, but the idea of patenting an image viewer, and then suing the developers of 10-year-old open source software is completely outrageous.
Rothschild "offered" to allow GNOME to settle the suit for a high five figure amount (presumably USD), however GNOME decided not to play their game and instead go the more expensive route to have the case dismissed completely and raise a counterclaim in an attempt to discourage future patent trolls from baselessly hassling open source software developers.
As HDRI Haven is built on the shoulders of dozens of open source software, and all our HDRIs are released in a similar spirit (public domain), I'd hate to see this become a trend.
GNOME is asking for donations to help them pay the legal fees. I've decided to donate $250 on behalf of HDRI Haven, taking it out of my travel savings.
If you'd like to read up more about this issue:
- The original lawsuit announcement
- The latest post, explaining their intentions to fight it
- The patent
- The lawsuit
Comments
ieatchili
This is a serious wrongful act！
glen rayner
Patent trolls give me nose-bleed, and highlight how broken, outdated and open to predators the patent system is. Large corporations RandD-ing a new thing, then not using the development but sitting on the patent and not allowing others to develop the thing further is just about as bad - but patent trolls are an almost untouchable low.
