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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.software.firefox,comp.misc
Subject: Re: 30 Years Of Netscape
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2024 21:51:20 -0000 (UTC)
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On Tue, 5 Nov 2024 14:32:21 -0500, bad sector wrote:

> On 11/4/24 14:35, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> 
>> One important thing Netscape did before going completely defunct was to
>> open-source the browser.
> 
> THAT was a class act! I did something vaguely similar when I took out a
> provisional patent and then let it lapse for the express purpose of thus
> hard-wiring the idea into public domain to prevent anyone from ever
> being able to take out a patent on the same idea.

Patents in the public interest ... now THAT I can applaud!

But then, simply publishing the idea would, in theory, count as “prior 
art”, wouldn’t it? Though in practice it is very hard to get patents 
invalidated anyway, at least in the US system (also *cough* East Texas 
*cough*).