On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 03:06:22AM -0400, Chapman Flack wrote:
> On 07/25/18 01:56, Nico Williams wrote:
>
> > Wrong. With patents the important thing is not to know about them when
> > you implement -- if you come up with the same idea by accident (which,
> > of course, is obviously entirely possible) then you are not subject to
> > trebble damages.
>
> Even if the damages are not trebled, can 1✕ the damages be more than you
> would like to shell out? Not to mention the hassle of getting any infringing
> uses to cease?
You get a chance to stop infringing. Also, how could you avoid
accidentally re-inventing patented algorithms if not by doing a costly
patent search every time you open $EDITOR??
> Also, is this distinction universally applied across jurisdictions?
It doesn't matter. The point is that no one does a patent search every
time they design an algorithm -- not unless they mean to patent it. So
you can't avoid accidentally re-inventing patented algorithms.