Disclaimer Everything in this talk actually happened Names and details have been changed Non-disclosure (I'd have to kill you) All exhibits/photos are fictional I know nothing, you'll learn nothing
Let's Talk Patents A hot-button issue Myth: All patent lawsuits are trolls Myth: All patent lawsuits involving software are purely about software Fact: Patent litigation is hell
Patent Litigation Timeline You hear about patents a lot But what actually happens? This talk is about that! Initial Complaint Fact Discovery (9-12 months) Claim Construction Summary Judgement Trial
Quick Learning The Invention 7. The system of claim 5 or 6, wherein the display and input means comprises displays means and input means, the input means being connected to the central processing unit, the display means being connected to the slithering means and the central processing unit, the display means being arranged to display the displays and the input means transferring the input responses to the central processing unit, and wherein the display and input task means further comprises display task means and input task means, the display task means being arranged to control the display means by transferring display commands to, and receiving the display responses from, the display means, the input task means being arranged to control the input means by transferring input commands to, and receiving input responses from, the input means. The Patent
Quick Learning The Invention 7. The system of claim 5 or 6, wherein the display and input means comprises displays means and input means, the input means being connected to the central processing unit, the display means being connected to the slithering means and the central processing unit, the display means being arranged to display the displays and the input means transferring the input responses to the central processing unit, and wherein the display and input task means further comprises display task means and input task means, the display task means being arranged to control the display means by transferring display commands to, and receiving the display responses from, the display means, the input task means being arranged to control the input means by transferring input commands to, and receiving input responses from, the input means. The Patent
Just Link It symbols = { name: pageno for pageno, defns in definitions.items() for name in defns } unresolved = [ (name, pageno) for pageno, clist in calls.items() for name in clist if name not in symbols ] missing = defaultdict(list) for name, pageno in unresolved: missing[name].append(pageno) for item in missing.items() print("Missing: %s on pages %s" % item)
From: Guido van Rossum Date: Dec 9 23:21:42 CET 2011 Subject: [Python-Dev][PATCH] Adding braces to __future__ For me, if I had to design a new language today, I would probably use braces, not because they're better than whitespace, but because pretty much every other lanugage uses them, and there are more interesting concepts to distinguish a new language. That said, I don't regret that Python uses indentation, and the rest I have to say about the topic would violate the above request. -- --Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido) Emails
From: Guido van Rossum Date: Dec 9 23:21:42 CET 2011 Subject: [Python-Dev][PATCH] Adding braces to __future__ For me, if I had to design a new language today, I would probably use braces, not because they're better than whitespace, but because pretty much every other lanugage uses them, and there are more interesting concepts to distinguish a new language. That said, I don't regret that Python uses indentation, and the rest I have to say about the topic would violate the above request. -- --Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido) Emails Smoking gun?!?
Perspective Software archive for the infringing invention Embedded Microcontroller System Display Module Keypads 7-segment A PC Custom PCI Board Second PC
Enter Customers • Dozen major customers (corporations) • Customer-specific system modifications • Think "skins" on main system • Hundreds of interlocking versions Base System Version 2.51 ACME Vers 1.23 Buy N Large Vers 4.22 Tyrell Corp Vers 3.43
Constraints No working hardware setup (can't run code) No working build environ (can't compile) No tech support (can't call anyone) Fragmentary documentation (if any)
Python? What? How? Unknown: How did Python get placed on the machine in the vault? I have NO idea A new IBM PC with only "approved tools" Best Guess: Used by an IBM OEM tool (Yet, there it was, python... in the Windows path no less).
The Horror! The Horror! Reverse engineering the entire build environ Makefiles, config files, etc. Identifying all major software components Examples: .exe files, .DLLs, plugins, etc. Sorting out version histories
Interactive Shell >>> cd('pycode') >>> pwd() D:\Files\pycode >>> diff('Python-2.6/Lib/collections.py', ... 'Python-2.6.2/Lib/collections.py') *** Python-2.6/Lib/collections.py --- Python-2.6.2/Lib/collections.py *************** *** 103,109 **** # where the named tuple is created. Bypass this step in where # sys._getframe is not defined (Jython for example). if hasattr(_sys, '_getframe'): ! result.__module__ = _sys._getframe(1).f_globals['__n return result --- 103,109 ---- # where the named tuple is created. Bypass this step in where
More Than Reinvention Actually implementing an entire workflow Building up layers of tools/analyses Not unlike what is done with IPython NB Can't understate Python awesomeness
Example def create_versions(topdir): import re for path, _ in find(topdir, 'pgen.c'): pypath, _ = os.path.split(path) version = re.search(r'-(\w+\.\w+(\.\w+)?)$', pypath).group(1) yield version, pypath allfiles() filetypes() find()
Example: Versioning def versions(filename): import hashlib from collections import defaultdict manifest = read_manifest() groups = defaultdict(list) for vers, path in manifest.items(): fullname = os.path.join(path, filename) if os.path.exists(fullname): digest = hashlib.new('md5') digest.update(open(fullname,'rb').read()) groups[digest.digest()].append(vers) return sorted([sorted(g) for g in groups.values()])
Navigational Tooling "Virtual File System" View View View Query tools for going to any version/file Navigational Tools >>> view('2.7.3', 'Python/ceval.c') >>> Typically launch windows tools (e.g., Vis Studio)
Timeline/Inventory Tools Link together every version of every component found Development timelines Official vs. Debug releases V1 V2 V3 V4 release release release release release release release
Commentary I don't know if the opposing side actually expected us to figure out their code We knew almost everything about everything Python FOR.THE.WIN.
How Does Code Work? Better make sure you understand everything about the code Software architecture Interaction between components Underlying algorithms
Let's Go Fishing Interesting files Code comments TPS reports PDF, DOC, RTF, HTML, TXT / / See: Important Document Fixed bug. See important specification. I ὑ re
Back and Forth An obscure find /* See FS-6541-8v2.0 for details */ A request to attorneys "Tell opposing counsel we can't find FS-6541-8v2.0" A few silent days pass....
Casting a Wide Net Search for documents is far and wide Software change notices Unrelated software (peripheral devices) Emails The web (catalogs, manuals, job postings, etc.) Analogy: Pulling on a loose thread...
Commentary You're learning the invention from scratch Reading other people's code You're teaching attorneys about it The other side doesn't want you to succeed You will learn A LOT in this exercise
Some Lessons Learned SUCKS ROCKS C++ Assembly code Asynchronous Threads Objects Functions Makefiles IDEs CASE Tools Humans 1990s 1970s (of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong) UML Words
Speaking of Attorneys Do the "facts" support patent infringement? Does it look like it infringes? Can it be proven that it infringes? (Let the game begin)
Remember this? 7. The system of claim 5 or 6, wherein the display and input means comprises displays means and input means, the input means being connected to the central processing unit, the display means being connected to the slithering means and the central processing unit, the display means being arranged to display the displays and the input means transferring the input responses to the central processing unit, and wherein the display and input task means further comprises display task means and input task means, the display task means being arranged to control the display means by transferring display commands to, and receiving the display responses from, the display means, the input task means being arranged to control the input means by transferring input commands to, and receiving input responses from, the input means. The Patent
Remember this? 7. The system of claim 5 or 6, wherein the display and input means comprises displays means and input means, the input means being connected to the central processing unit, the display means being connected to the slithering means and the central processing unit, the display means being arranged to display the displays and the input means transferring the input responses to the central processing unit, and wherein the display and input task means further comprises display task means and input task means, the display task means being arranged to control the display means by transferring display commands to, and receiving the display responses from, the display means, the input task means being arranged to control the input means by transferring input commands to, and receiving input responses from, the input means. The Patent What does this claim mean? (let's rumble)
Defining Claim Terms 7. The system of claim 5 or 6, wherein the display and input means comprises displays means and input means, the input means being connected to the central processing unit, the display means being connected to the slithering means and the central processing unit, the display means being arranged to display the displays and the input means transferring the input responses to the central processing unit, and wherein the display and input task means further comprises display task means and input task means, the display task means being arranged to control the display means by transferring display commands to, and receiving the display responses from, the display means, the input task means being arranged to control the input means by transferring input commands to, and receiving input responses from, the input means. The Patent Term Plaintiff Defendant central processing unit display means
Claim Construction Claim terms have to be supported by reality If not, it's game over A lot of attorney/expert consultation Problem: very specific facts and structure File: Widget/foo.c, lines 230-255. Requires a deep dive
Big Picture Reduce a massive data set to something sane "This claim matches this structure in the code. There have only been six versions of this code over 15 years. Here are the six versions." Keep in mind: All this happening in the vault Big collection of fragment histories
Postscript: Expert Report You may be asked to write an expert report Outlines all factual findings Ties facts to patent claims A scientific document It's a document that WILL be read
Postscript: Deposition You A room of attorneys Opposing expert Court reporter Videographer 8 hours It will be one of the most intense, surreal, awesome/worst experiences of your whole life.
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