Patents Against Palladium Uses
from the different-strategies dept
It sounds like a long shot to me, but apparently, a cypherpunk is trying to force Microsoft not to use their Palladium technology to enforce the terms of software licenses through creative patenting. Microsoft has announced that they have no plans to use Palladium for that purpose, though, many people doubt that. So, Lucky Green has filed for patents on using Palladium to enforce software license terms – and then plans to go after Microsoft if they infringe. Sounds creative, right? Of course, a few things have to happen for it to work. The patent has to be approved. Microsoft may have already filed for a similar patent – in which case, Green’s patent will go nowhere. However, Green says he doesn’t think Microsoft will challenge the patents because it would go against their word saying they don’t intend to use Palladium that way. I think that could be wishful thinking. Microsoft has shown plenty of times that they have no problem going against their word, and don’t really care if they damage the company’s reputation for “truthfulness”. The company has no reputation for truthfulness.
