Re: The GNU Philosophy: How practical is it?

[Alexander Terekhov]

Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote:
> 
> Sex, 2007-04-27 Ã s 17:21 +0200, Alexander Terekhov escreveu:
> > "Alfred M. Szmidt" wrote:
> > [...]
> > > Dunno why I bother, but... RedHat does far more software development
> > > than Adobe.                                                   ^
> >                                                                 |
> > Eh?                                                             |
> >                                                                 |
> > Adobe's latest 10-Q:                                            |
> >                                                                 |
> > Research and development................ 137,129 >--------------+
>                                              ^
>                                              |
> Software Patents count here -----------------+

Same as with Red Hat's R&D numbers, I gather.

"Patents, and the patent system, are becoming increasingly important to 
the business. Deputy general counsel Webbink explains that when Red Hat 
decided to create the position that Avrunin filled, management received 
a lot of resumes from patent prosecutors. In contrast, Avrunin was a 
patent litigator at law firm Finnegan Henderson. "We found that rather 
intriguing," says Webbink. His resume made the decision makers 
question: "Do we want a good patent prosecutor? Or do we want someone 
who can keep us out of trouble?"

It appears that Avrunin wants to be both. "He's been here for 20 years 
already in dog years," says Webbink. Avrunin has been busy, in other 
words. Before he arrived, Red Hat had around 30 patent applications 
pending at the USPTO. "At the end of last quarter, we have nine issued 
patents out of 175 applications," says Avrunin. Cryptography, digital 
rights management and security are big focus areas for Red Hat's 
patents."

                -- Red Hat enters the patent ring - MIP March 2007

regards,
alexander.