---
layout: post
title: 'SeaGL speaker Q&A: Deb Nicholson'
status: publish
type: post
published: true
categories: news
tags: '2015'
---

SeaGL speaker and staff member Deb Nicholson talks software patents:

Q: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your
background?

My name is Deb Nicholson and I work at the Open Invention Network
[OIN](https://www.openinventionnetwork.com/). OIN is a defensive patent pool for
lots of free and open source projects, including Linux, GNU, Android and a ton
of other tools. I also serve as the Community Manager for
[GNU MediaGoblin](https://www.mediagoblin.org/), a decentralized media-hosting
project, and as a board member at OpenHatch <https://openhatch.org/>, which we
like to call "Free Software's Welcoming Committee."

Q: Without tipping your hand on the actual talk, can you give us an
idea of what we might expect?

Well, we've seen some really big changes to the patent landscape in a short
amount of time. In the US, we went from almost no software patents to an
exponential increase in patenting in computing which lead to a huge uptick in
software patent aggression. For a while, it seemed like nothing could be done
but there's been lots of progress; both in community awareness and
understanding what can be done. Finally, the Supreme Court addressed the scope
of patentability twice last year and I'll talk about how that is affecting
cases around the country.

Q: Is this your first visit to SeaGL? If so, what are your expectations? If
not, can you give us your impressions of the event?

I've been to every single SeaGL since I'm also one of the organizers, which
is a little weird since I live in Boston. I blame the rest of the amazing
SeaGL team and the ridiculously good Seattle coffee. So I'm probably a little
biased, but I think we put on a great conference for beginners, hobbyists,
activists and long-time free software users.

Q: Aren't legal issues sort of boring for the layperson?

A: Not at all! Software patent cases involve actual people trying to change
the way the law treats our community and our industry. Some of those people
are heroic, others are craven bullies, and some are just trying to make the
best of a bad situation. Toss in ridiculous piles of money and there's easily
enough drama for a TV show.
