Z:gnu-www-ja-software-patents--5843be-So, what is the first thing yo/en

So, what is the first thing you are going to do after you have had an idea of what kind of program you are going to write? The first thing you might want to try to do to deal with the patent system is find out what patents may cover the program you want to write. This is impossible. The reason is that some of the patent applications that are pending are secret. After a certain amount of time they may get published, like 18 months. But that is plenty of time for you to write a program and even release it not knowing that there is going to be a patent and you are going to get sued.