Pay the Taxman: The Patent Tax

The Software Freedom Law Center is a joint project between Eben Moglen and Dan Ravicher.  Clearly pro-FOSS and anti-patent-protection. For tax day, the Center has released their letter describing the patent tax. Here is the gist:

If you run a computer using Windows, you're not just paying for the programmers who put the program together and the corporate operations that brought it to market. You're also paying a hidden tax of well over $20 that Microsoft has had to pay to other patent holders.

The letter goes-on to talk about how Linux has never been found liable for patent infringement. . .

Read the patent-tax letter and sing the song:

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.

Comments

[Malcolm Mooney]

While we're on the subject, I'm sick and tired of paying the Federal Express tax every time I want to ship something overnight. What's up with that?

[small guy]

Eben Moglen and Dan Ravicher ?

Those [REDACTED]...

DDC: Careful here Small Guy. The point of this forum is to generate a valuable discussion not to defame.

[MaxDrei]

Ever noticed something about the ones around us in the office who are always quickest to announce somebody else to be an idiot. We have a saying in England "It takes one to know one". The first word of the gentleman's pseudonym is apt, too. Let's concentrate on enriching each others' reading experiences, shall we?

[Happy to be an American inventor]

It sounds to me like Eben Moglen and Dan Ravicher are simple salesmen selling Linux by knocking Windows. Pay me $4 million and a subsequent stipend and I’ll sing your song too.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Freedom_Law_Center
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) was launched in February 2005 with Eben Moglen as Chairman.
Initial funding of $4 million USD was provided by Open Source Development Labs, who have also provided a subsequent round of funding.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Development_Labs
Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) was a non-profit organization supported by a global consortium dedicated to the advancement of the kernel called Linux. Founded in 2000, its goals included "to be the recognized center-of-gravity for the Linux industry" and to serve as "a central body dedicated to accelerating the use of Linux for enterprise computing."
On January 22, 2007, OSDL and the Free Standards Group merged to form The Linux Foundation, narrowing their respective focuses to that of promoting Linux in competition with Microsoft Windows.[1]

[REDACTED]

[mrbellie]

I guess Mr. Moglen and Mr. Ravicher are assuming that without the patented inventions, those
same features would still be in the OS anyway.

[Christopher Mitchell]

While distressed that you give the impramatur of credibility to groups like SFLC, I am at least encouraged that the other commentators on this page appear to be more pro innovation. The truth of the matter is that there are all sorts of costs attached to everything we purchase. It's only when we add pejorative terms like "tax" that some people start to clamor for reform. On the other hand, simple economics would seem to suggest that the cost of Windows is not beyond what the market is willing to bear. Perhaps there are many who actually appreciate the third party innovations embodied therein?

[small guy]

What I admire about lawyers is that most of the time they speak as though their mouth is full of gravel.... Just can't pronounce certain things...
(Unless, of course, they can preserve their anonymity)

[Paul Cole]

Of course it is cheaper if we can have other peoples' creations for nothing. Products marketed that way are inevitably cheaper. Every music and software pirate knows that.

But readers of this site should know - no royalties, less research, fewer new products. You have to pay the creative people and patents help provide the income for doing so. That is true for software as it is for everything else.

[ottoleff]

This is America. These guys are entitled to do what they are doing. I can't respect a deliberate misrepresentation, i.e. calling something a tax that isn't a tax. That doesn't help anyone.

[anonymous]

"mrbellie" and Mr. Cole give the obvious response to Moglen and Ravicher. The "patent tax" is a premium we pay (we suppose) for getting the technology sooner than we might otherwise. Maybe the bargain isn't fair, but that's an empirical question that isn't addressed by their letter.

I imagine that there are also component parts of the computer that are made more expensive by the existence of tariffs, and I'm also paying a hidden tax in that sense. It's only wrong, though, if I can make a decent argument for why tariffs are bad policy and why the costs of tariffs outweigh their supposed benefits.

Moglen's and Ravicher's letter cheapens the quality of discourse on this issue.

[Zeke]

"But readers of this site should know - no royalties, less research, fewer new products. You have to pay the creative people and patents help provide the income for doing so. That is true for software as it is for everything else."

Half of the Web is powered by royalty-free software: Linux, PHP, and MySQL. Many times this software can be superior to commercial products. For example, Linux is not nearly as suceptible to viruses as Windows.

Money isn't the only motivator for creative types.

[Jim Demers]

"If you run a computer using Windows, you're not just paying for the programmers who put the program together and the corporate operations that brought it to market."

The unspoken assumption, of course, is that only Microsoft's programmers should be paid.

[Steve Morsa]

Oh, boo-hoo.

And I suppose we all should complain to our congressmen about the cost of cars, since they too have--what, up to some 100's?--of patented parts and systems in them?

...and hey...we all should be working for free as well...that way, whatever we're producing or providing can be sold for a lower price to others...

Geeeez.

[small guy]

"On the other hand, free operating systems based on Linux have never been found guilty of patent
infringement, making Linux a patenttaxfree
alternative to Windows. Not only do these free
software systems have no patent tax, they have no taxes whatsoever, because – like all open
source software – they are available to the public at zero cost."

Bu-ha-ha
Ignorance is bliss.. is it ?

Linux patent free ?
Available at zero cost ?

How does Red Hat then make money to give some of it to those anti-swpatent cokroaches?

[afsd]

That's quite a long quote - all the lyrics from Taxman? Fair use? And the picture is a John doll, but George wrote and sang the song.

[Zeke]

"How does Red Hat then make money...?"

I'll take the liberty of civilizing your question before I chime in with the answer:

Training, support, and service.

[Malcolm Mooney]

"the picture is a John doll"

Looks like George to me. But the doll trade did not always do a great job of distinguishing the two.

http://www.fab4collectibles.com/d-l.htm

[confused]

I'm confused between this character and the one shown on this link:
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2007/03/pull_my_finger_.html#comments