[free-sklyarov] A constructive form of protest

[Seth David Schoen]

ca2027001 at sneakemail.com writes:

> The only question - is the pdf encoder covered by 
> patents?? anyone know??

Yes; for example,

http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/legalnotices.html

Patents on DRM stuff itself are a big risk.  If we got rid of the DMCA
tomorrow, we would still have trouble circumventing Macrovision's copy
protection schemes, _because Macrovision takes out patents on the
technologies it invents to circumvent its own copy protection_!  If you
search for patents held by Macrovision, something like 1/3 or more are
actually patents on circumvention technologies, clearly taken out in
order to stop other people from implementing these.

Whether this means that the USPTO, or patentees, are violating the DMCA
by teaching people how to circumvent TPMs is another matter.

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Its really terrible when FBI arrested
Temp.  http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/ | hacker, who visited USA with peacefull
down:  http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF) | mission -- to share his knowledge with
     http://www.freesklyarov.org/      | american nation.  (Ilya V. Vasilyev)