[Patents] consultation questions

[srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian)]

Additionally, as European governments seek out more investment monies
as they try to wean European governments off of taxpayer financed
investment dollars, the governments will encounter more and more
support from potential investors (like venture capitalists) to keep
patents, including for software.

I do not find it surprising that the French government is (pretending)
to argue otherwise, i.e., support restricting the patenting of
software.  France is a lousy place for SMEs, at least by all of the
reports I read where French startups are taking the Chunnel to the UK
and setting up shop there, where the climate is more supportive of
startups.  Nothing more hilarious than when the French government
attacks software patents on behalf of SMEs.

Indeed, I suspect as integration efforts continue in the EC, with
governments being forced to privatize many of their R&D policies (and
well they should - I resent having my tax dollars going to benefit
a competitor), private sector investors and venture capitalists will
want as  strong as possible a protection for their invenstments in
SMEs.  Copyright as is, is too weak (and any modifications like
Hartmut suggests will end up looking like a patent anyway), whereas
investors are well comfortable with patents.

Of course, if you are hostile to SMEs (like established companies and
some European governments), than trying to weaken patent protection
and ignoring the goal of improving patent quality is the position to
take.  Being (or trying to be) an SME, I take, and have taken, the
exact opposite position.  And hopefully someday I will come up with
an idea viable enough to attract venture capital investment, and will
damn well want to be able to patent it, even if it is software.

So as European governments better understand the economics of attracting
investments for their native SMEs, especially their software SMEs, I
suspect they will be more supportive of an open, software patenting
policy.

Greg AHaronian