[geeks] Distributed folding patent

[Kurt Huhn]

Caleb Shay <caleb at webninja.com> wrote:
> splitting hairs.  The answer is, I don't think all patents are bad.  I
> have a strong moral belief that anything that is being used to try to
> save lives should not be patentable.  Why?   It goes back to my first
> argument.  The potential risk of lawsuit stifles innovation in the
> field, since nobody wants to accidently create something that infringes
> on the patent.  Even worse, I can't use the patent holders creation as a
> base to improve upon.  How are we supposed to gain advancements in
> medical science in a reasonable amount of time if nobody can work

I think this is a little dramatic.  

We don't know what the distributedfolding.com team plans to do with the
patent.  It *could* be (but we don't know) that they filed for the patent to
prevent the various pharmeceutical companies from getting there first and
removing it from the community.  It's a possibility.  However, nobody here
knows, because nobody there has said "We've patented this in order to keep
it for ourselves, get rich, and stifle innovation."  Also, nobody up there
has said "We've patented this in order to prevent $suits@$company from
backdooring us and the entire medical community."

My point is, nobody knows.  So until I see more evidence either way, my
systems will continue to run the client and contribute the search for
illness, disease, and other health problems plaguing the modern world.

If you're angry about it, I would pop off an email to the maintainers and
let them know your concerns.  Don't accuse them of patenting to stifle, just
express your concerns about the state of corporate greed and ask them
(nicely) not to follow that path.

-- 
Kurt                 " Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to flagellate 
kurt at k-huhn.com        myself with a soldering iron."
                                                   --Kris Kirby