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While developing a FAT32 driver for my bootloader, I thought to make it complete by adding the long file name support.
While watching around for some specification, and I also found articles about Microsoft suing for infringement of their patents on something that basically is a workaround.
Knowing about this events made me think: is it fair to patent things that are workarounds?

EnryFan
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    Are patents fair in the first place? – Winston Ewert Sep 07 '14 at 14:40
  • "avoid asking subjective questions where … every answer is equally valid" ([help/dont-ask]). See http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/6483/why-was-my-question-closed-or-down-voted/6491#6491 – gnat Sep 07 '14 at 16:44

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If a solution to a problem is a workaround or not is often just a matter of viewpoint. And to find a good workaround for a problem is sometimes not easy and may need a whole lot of intellectual work, not necessarily less than a "straightforward" or "uncompromising" solution. So assumed software patents would be any kind of fair (which I strongly deny!), I don't see why patents for "workarounds" should be less fair than for other "non-workarounds".

Doc Brown
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  • From my point of view, workarounds aren't any type of new technology or industrial secret that needs to be hidden, it's really just some expedient for making more money. So, still from my point of view, they're more unjust. – EnryFan Sep 07 '14 at 17:13
  • @EnryFan: The large majority of patents (and not just the software ones) are not for something completely new but rather for (innovative) changes to existing technology. – Bart van Ingen Schenau Sep 07 '14 at 17:20
  • @BartvanIngenSchenau: actually, IMHO the large majority of software patents are for something where the degree of innovation is, well, lets say debatable. – Doc Brown Sep 07 '14 at 19:20