|
Sun / Kodak
Could Kodak Cool Off Java?
Penelope Patsuris, Forbes.com 10.05.04, 11:15 AM ET
NEW YORK - Eastman Kodak is not a name that's synonymous with software, but the photography giant is now at the center of a court case that could be pivotal for that industry.
Late on Oct. 1, a jury found in favor of Kodak (nyse: EK - news - people ) in a dispute in which it alleged that Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ) infringed upon Kodak patents with its Java programming language. Although Sun has said it will appeal the decision, the jury will first hear Kodak's case for damages. It's asking for $1 billion. Even worse: Kodak's claim asks the court to enjoin Sun from using the Java technology pending the case's appeal.
"That would be really draconian," says Amy Landers, a law professor at the University of the Pacific. "Then Sun would have to retool Java."
Sun issued this statement in response to the decision: "Although disappointed by the jury's finding of infringement, we believe that we will be successful in the damages phase of the trial. We hope to reach a decision that will be in the best interest of shareholders, customers and Sun."
A Kodak spokesman said it would also persevere. "We have invested millions across a host of intellectual properties, and we have an obligation to our shareholders to protect that," he said.
This case will likely bounce around the judicial system for years, but it is already raising big and very alarming questions for the software industry. Because Java is a programming language that Sun lets developers essentially use for free, the Kodak/Sun battle could have important implications for the software community as a whole. The message boards are teaming with infuriated technophiles who want to know if Kodak is coming after them next. (So far Kodak has filed suit only against Sun, not individual developers.)
Whether companies should even be able to patent software has been a bone of contention within the legal and technology industries for years. The software code itself is not actually patented--algorithms cannot be patented. Rather, it is a software program's method of operation that falls under patent law, according to Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain.
"Copyright law prevents software from being ripped off wholesale," he says. "But the level of abstraction that is involved in patenting software just doesn't make sense. Software patents are just an employment program for lawyers."
It's a matter of public policy, says Jonathan Eunice, an analyst with the IT research firm Illuminata, based in Nashua, N.H. "The question is, Are software patents doing what they are supposed to do?" he says. "Patent law is supposed to encourage investment and invention, but cases like this aren't doing that."
The European Union is now wrestling with similar matters as it tries to formulate its own software patent policy.
But it's unlikely that U.S. software patents will disappear any time soon, says Stanford University law professor Mark Lemley, if only because software giants like IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) and Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) are heavily invested in them.
"We have been patenting software for at least a decade, and there are hundreds of thousands of software patents," he says. "Congress would have to get involved if the issue were to be reconsidered. And the big technology companies have a lot of leverage with Congress."
No doubt the success with which Sun appeals the Kodak case will have a significant impact on how the U.S. government approaches the issue going forward.
___________________
- rabbit.joker [funny¿rabbit] | www.rabbitjoker.com |www.ddtt.org
Dark Dirty Tech Tribal. | Hands in air (trance) and feet on the floor (house).
|
Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) 
