[pgyanke]

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that farmers may not use Monsanto’s patented genetically altered soybeans to create new seeds without paying the company a fee.

The ruling has implications for many aspects of modern agriculture and for businesses based on vaccines, cell lines and software.

How long before we will have to pay a fee to a software or computer company for the products, services and advertising we use them for?

[OneWingedShark]

How long before we will have to pay a fee to a software or computer company for the products, services and advertising we use them for?

I read somewhere that was what the next iteration of MS Office would be, and I ran into a Corel customer satisfaction survey (I use WordPerfect) that indicated they were considering going the "paid subscription service" route -- so you might not be too far off.

[Atlas Sneezed]

How long before we will have to pay a fee to a software or computer company for the products, services and advertising we use them for?

---

Basically, you already do. Don’t expect your software to work for more than a few years. And don’t expect to be able to resell it after you are done using it.

If you want inventions, you need to grant exclusivity. And it will be in the public domain in 20 years. Meanwhile, farmers can use the old beans.