ESP Wiki is looking for moderators and active contributors!

Difference between revisions of "Apple Inc."

(→‎Steve Jobs on "stealing")
Line 31: Line 31:
  
 
Another Apple patent mentioning LLVM is titled [http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6263421/claims.html Virtual memory system that is portable between different CPU types].
 
Another Apple patent mentioning LLVM is titled [http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6263421/claims.html Virtual memory system that is portable between different CPU types].
 +
 +
 +
 +
'''''Hey, boys, I'd suggest that next time you actually read these patents, rather than just doing a string search on 'em. I doubt you've got the wherewithal to actually get what they're talking about, but with any luck at all, at least you might avoid looking like complete boneheads next time. Just to clue you in:'''''
 +
 +
'''''In the 6263421 patent, if you'd actually read it, you'd note that in para. 4, claim 1, "LLVM" is defined as "low-level virtual memory". This patent does not have any relation to the LLVM (Low-Level Virtual Machine) compiler architecture. In the 20100153929 patent application, LLVM IR—LLVM internal representation—is identifed in (dependent) claim 8, simply as a potential way—an example—of how one might maintain an intermediate representation of some Javascript. Again, this has nothing to do with the LLVM compiler per se, and to suggest on the basis of these two patents that Apple is somehow attempting to "patent LLVM" is a very clear and cogent demonstration that you haven't got even the slightest idea what you're talking about here.'''''
 +
 +
'''''There's no substitute for actually knowing what you're talking about. Thanks for playing, though!'''''
 +
 +
 +
  
 
==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==
 
==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==

Revision as of 01:26, 8 October 2010

Apple inc. has software patents and has used them aggressively (such as against HTC Corporation, in 2010).

Steve Jobs on Picasso's notion of "stealing"

The CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs has previously acknowledged that software developement requires building new ideas on existing ideas. While explaining the value of this, he called it "stealing", but he was portraying it in a positive way. It's usually called "incremental development".

It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done, and then try to bring those things in to what you're doing. I mean, Picasso had a saying: good artists copy, great artists steal. And, we have, y'know, always been shameless about stealing great ideas[...][1] (Date unknown but by his age, it's clearly pre-2000)

Patenting LLVM?

Apple, while contributing to the free software LLVM project, has been granted multiple patents mentioning LLVM.

The LLVM software is distributed under a licence which gives no patent protection to recipients.

Can you help? LLVM's contributor policy[1] asks contributors to give free access to necessary patents. Has Apple done this? Do Apple's patents cover code they've contributed to LLVM or are they for non-contributed extensions?


Apple was granted a patent on 17 June 2010, for "Converting javascript into a device-independent representation" including:[2]

1. A method for processing computer code, comprising:storing a device-independent intermediate representation of a source code; andin the event an indication is received that the source code has changed, using the changed source code to generate and store a new intermediate representation of the changed source code.
[...]
8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the intermediate representation comprises LLVM intermediate representation (IR), LLVM byte code or other byte code, or another appropriate intermediate representation.

LLVM is also mentioned multiple times in the patent section titled "Detailed description".

Possible prior art includes [2], [3], [4], and the "UCSD p-System".

Another Apple patent mentioning LLVM is titled Virtual memory system that is portable between different CPU types.


Hey, boys, I'd suggest that next time you actually read these patents, rather than just doing a string search on 'em. I doubt you've got the wherewithal to actually get what they're talking about, but with any luck at all, at least you might avoid looking like complete boneheads next time. Just to clue you in:

In the 6263421 patent, if you'd actually read it, you'd note that in para. 4, claim 1, "LLVM" is defined as "low-level virtual memory". This patent does not have any relation to the LLVM (Low-Level Virtual Machine) compiler architecture. In the 20100153929 patent application, LLVM IR—LLVM internal representation—is identifed in (dependent) claim 8, simply as a potential way—an example—of how one might maintain an intermediate representation of some Javascript. Again, this has nothing to do with the LLVM compiler per se, and to suggest on the basis of these two patents that Apple is somehow attempting to "patent LLVM" is a very clear and cogent demonstration that you haven't got even the slightest idea what you're talking about here.

There's no substitute for actually knowing what you're talking about. Thanks for playing, though!



Related pages on ESP Wiki

Court cases and lawsuits

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU
  2. ↑ http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100153929
  3. ↑ http://www.w3.org/2004/01/pp-impl/40318/status#current-disclosures
Retrieved from "https://wiki.endsoftwarepatents.org/w/index.php?title=Apple_Inc.&oldid=19294"