<p>This is why the software patent system is somewhat broken:  many times in software (and probably elsewhere as well, but I'm mostly familiar with software) something becomes possible (<a href="http://www.stevex.org/dottext/posts/207.aspx">using BitTorrent for RSS enclosures</a>) and, probably triggered by reading the same thing somewhere or by some other recent discovery, <a href="http://grumet.net/weblog/archives/2003/12/04/enclosures_and_bittorrent.html">many people</a> come up with the same idea.  </p> <p>Then it's a race to see who can be the first to implement and patent it.  Using BitTorrent for RSS enclosures is a good idea, and it's probably something that's patentable. </p> <p>I didn't know other people had posted about this before I posted about it.. Maybe somebody already has patented it and if I implemented it, I'd be subject to their licensing.  That's dumb.</p> <p>I like the idea of using patents to protect and reward invention; the hard part is determining which inventions deserve to be rewarded.  <a href="http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/">BitTorrent</a> itself is pretty darn cool and I'd be OK with <a href="http://bitconjurer.org/">BitConjurer</a> having a patent on it for a limited period of time.. </p> <p> </p>Thu, 01 Sep 2005 19:17:04 GMT