Just one more post from me. I realize everyone thinks I'm an asshole, that I didn't handle it well. I agree. I was too impulsive in posting and didn't allow enough time for introspection. Now that I've had some time, I realize that I was reacting from an emotionally-driven place.
In short, my ability to exercise my creative freedom is extremely important to me, and Josh's use of his patent felt like it threatened that. If it seemed like I was attacking him, it was because of that.
Anyway, I sent him a PM earlier that goes into it a little more, which I will copy here for anyone that is interested:
[spoiler]
So I've had some time to reflect and to probe my motivations more deeply, and it's now much clearer to me what set me off.
This is a deep, core belief I hold - more gut instinct and emotion than rational intellect.
Here it is, in its rawest form:
No one gets to tell me what I can or cannot do with my own fucking ideas.
It's that simple. I feel very strongly that if I want to use my imagination and creative energy to write, or draw, or design something, and to then share it, sell it, or do whatever else I want with it, no one should have any right to stop me from doing so.
A patent is a limitation on what people can do with certain ideas - an implied threat of legal force against anyone who would violate it.
I do understand and accept the need for patents, as it serves an important social function by protecting the progenitors of truly novel inventions.
However, as far as I can tell, there is nothing novel about the supposed invention your patent covers. Cutting through the technical jargon, what it seems to come down to is 1.) using a riser to connect the GPU and motherboard in the same plane, 2.) housing these parts in a sufficiently sturdy box, 3.) including holes for airflow. Absolutely none of this is novel or non-obvious to anyone having ordinary skill in the art. Not when you filed the patent in 2012, and not when I was experimenting with the same ideas in 2008. If I'm wrong about this, I need a good explanation of why, and why your patent applies to K888D's design and not others.
I understand your original intention in filing a patent was to protect yourself from predatory practices by competitors. I get that. I still don't think it's a legitimate patent, but at least I understand why you pursued it. However, that is beside the point.
Where it crosses the line for me is when you move from no longer using it purely as a defensive measure, but to making agreements to license the design, and moreover to advertise that fact to the community (via K888D). This sets a precedent that, if accepted by the community, implies that other similar designs should follow suit. I vehemently object to that, on the basis that my designs are my own original creations that incorporate features that are either obvious or established in the public domain. Even the implied suggestion that I should seek your or anyone else's permission to exercise my creative free will is deeply offensive to me.
I apologize that I initially came across so severely. I still think the objections I articulated in the thread have merit, but I recognize now that they were attempts to rationalize my instinctive gut feeling. I hope you understand though where I'm coming from though, that it was driven by a fundamental value which is very personally important to me. As a creator yourself, I'm sure you can appreciate the importance of having your personal autonomy and creative freedom respected.
[/spoiler]
EDIT: Just to make it completely clear, since some people have some misconceptions: I do not, nor have ever had, any kind of working relationship with Josh | NFC, dondan, or anyone else on the forum apart from wahaha360. He has working relationships with those guys through SFFLab and various joint projects. But I haven't had so much as a single conversation with Josh prior to this thread, and dondan and I have only exchanged messages a couple of times. My objections to Josh's actions are based solely on principle, and have nothing to do with any perceived wrongdoing against me personally.
