Re: ARC patent

Tom Lane wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> > Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> >> What will you do if the patent is granted, 8.0 is out there with the
> >> offending code, and you get a cease-and-desist letter from IBM
> >> demanding the removal of all offending code from the Net?
> 
> > We can modify the code slightly to hopefully avoid the patent.  With the
> > US granting patents on even obvious ideas, I would think that most large
> > software projects, including commercial ones, already have tons of
> > patent violations in their code.  Does anyone think otherwise?
> 
> I think there is zero probability of being sued by IBM in the near
> future.  They would instantly destroy the credibility and good
> relationships they've worked so hard to build up with the entire
> open source community.
> 
> However, I don't want to be beholden to IBM indefinitely --- in five
> years their corporate strategy might change.  I think that a reasonable
> response to this is to plan to get rid of ARC, or at least modify the
> code enough to avoid the patent, in time for 8.1.  (It's entirely likely
> that that will happen before the patent issues, anyway.)

We may already have modified the code enough to avoid the patent.

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