Re:Why I hate software patents: IBM patents trim()
by vaksel on Friday January 16, 2009 @06:29PM
(#437467)
if IBM has to resort to being a patent troll we ALL will have other things to worry about
Re:Why I hate software patents: IBM patents trim()
by irrelative on Friday January 16, 2009 @11:18PM
(#437737)
I completely agree (even up-modded you!), but if you corner a rat, watch out.
Re:Why I hate software patents: IBM patents trim()
by gravitycop on Friday January 16, 2009 @09:12PM
(#437651)
Patents only last 20 years, and besides that every resource is in theory substitutable anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Re:Why I hate software patents: IBM patents trim()
by asnyder on Friday January 16, 2009 @11:22PM
(#437744)
How would you replace trim? According to the text of the patent any method that removes leading or trailing space would fall under protection of this patent. The only way would be to manually remove spaces character by character every time you ran your query. I definitely don't like the sound of that.
Re:Why I hate software patents: IBM patents trim()
by gravitycop on Saturday January 17, 2009 @07:25PM
(#438787)
How would you replace trim?
Why would I need to replace trim? Trim existed before the filing date of the application for patent. The patent does not cover trim. Why would one think that the patent does cover trim?
According to the text of the patent any method that removes leading or trailing space would fall under protection of this patent.
No, it wouldn't. The 2. Description of Related Art section states:
Currently, TRIM functions, available in SQL, are used to remove leading and/or trailing space characters from data being presented to a user.
Therefore, merely any method that removes leading or trailing space cannot be what is being claimed in the patent.
Not to mention, just like a real arms race... It's not the government officials who are really in danger, it's all of the common people, or in this case, programmers.