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Brazil? Why a Brazilian patent is of such a significant interest elsewhere?
by senshan 1mo ago
Brazil? Why a Brazilian patent is of such a significant interest elsewhere?
- nemomarx 1mo agoI think this was the final patent on it that was valid anywhere, so now the status changes from "someone has a patent globally and we need to consider this" to "no one has a patent." If you're distributing something globally, even one market that still has the patent might stop you from default shipping a driver touching on it, or you might have to worry about court orders at least. It's hard to avoid jurisdictions on the open web.
- senshan 1mo agoRight, but I thought it matters only if you sell something globally. Linux is distributed for free, so the burden of patent compliance is on the user, isn't it?
- nemomarx 1mo agoNot a lawyer, but patent law refers to distribution too. It shouldn't matter if it's free or has a price if they can say you're distributing it to Brazilian users.
- dymk 1mo agoPlenty of open source software avoids using patents even though it’s free. Selling doesn’t factor into it.
- pjc50 1mo agoNope. Distribution is what matters.
- PunchyHamster 1mo agoBoth Ubuntu and RedHad sell a product, as do few other
- breakingcups 1mo agoDistributing something for free doesn't mean you don't have patent obligations if you do it in the country that patent is valid in. On top of that, many corporations do sell their distribution of Linux.
- amelius 1mo agoIs this the "install third-party software" checkbox in the Ubuntu installer?
- nemomarx 1mo agoI thought those were just the closed source drivers from Nvidia, Intel, and so on. But those vendors might have licenses for this kind of patent, especially Nvidia?
- Certhas 1mo agoPresumably it's an "international patent" filed in Brazil. You don't have to file your patent in every jurisdiction. There have been treaties for recognising each others intellectual property rights since the late 19th century and Brazil has been part of these from the start. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_patent_treaties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_internation...
- goodcanadian 1mo agoSo, I recently learned about this from my company's patent lawyers. Patents only give protection in countries where they are filed. So, you can not create a product in Brazil that violates a Brazilian patent. And, you cannot import a product into Brazil that violates that patent. But, there is nothing stopping you from making that product in the US and selling it to Americans. The whole treaty business essentially means that most countries have roughly equivalent laws and you can file the same patent in multiple countries if you are willing to pay the fees. What countries you pay to file in then becomes a commercial decision.
- jambalaya8 1mo agoBy your company's patent lawyers' logic then, any American drug or technical doodad patented in America is totally legal to be knocked off in Majarashtra or Taiwan or Guangzhong. Pretty sure if you tried pulling this you would be disappointed with the outcome. Not that it is not done (obviously), but that it (pretty sure) isn't legal.
- goodcanadian 1mo agoIf it hasn't also been patented in India or Taiwan or China, that is 100% correct (but they can't ship it to the US). However, it would be typical to patent in all of those countries at the same time. I'm going to trust a patent lawyer over someone on the internet. And so should you, if this situation applies to you, don't trust me: get a lawyer.
- technothrasher 1mo ago