
Software Patents > Analysis > Priority
Shield?	Priority

priority proofs

We have started to document the state of the art for all FFII.ORG projects, so as to be able to fend off at least some of the possible patent attacks. There are some other more promising projects and possibilities on the Net. As long as software patents are granted and enforced somewhere in the world, extensive historical documentation can help amplify the insecurity over the validity of software patents and thus provide one of the most effective protection shields especially for free software.

FTP Archive
Further Reading

FTP Archive

Of all projects hosted by FFII.ORG, every day progress deltas are recorded on our public FTP archive.

archive.org -- Building an Internet Library: Ein Versuch, den aktuellen Zustand des Netzes oder zumindest wichtiger Teile davon zu bestimmten späteren Zeitpunkgen zugänglich zu machen
http://groups.google.com/: Successor of Dejanews, keeps a time-stamped archive of all Usenet groups and publicly accessible mailing list archives.
Ewiges Logfile
Collective Shields against Software Patents?: Building a patent portfolio is hardly a realistic option for the self-defense of the free/opensource software community. However this community has a certain chance of leveraging prior art to its advantage, especially if it does this in a cost-efficient manner and realises the potential of legal insecurity inherent in the software patent system. So called Defensive Publishing, as has been proposed by initiatives like the Foresight Institute, however appears to be an incredibly silly approach. The most urgent task at this moment (spring 2001) is to time-stamp every CVS archive and every mailing list on which software ideas are developped.
time stamping

priority proofs

FTP Archive

Further Reading