[Patents] More on why business methods are technical (fwd)

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

I enumerated some basic rights with which patents can collide,
particularly when patentability is not limited to inventions based on
controllable physical forces:

basic axioms:

> - human dignity is untouchable (vs "mind = matter")
> - general freedom of action (allgemeine Handlungsfreiheit)

special freedoms:

> - freedom of opinion, expression, information
> - freedom of choice of profession (vs artificial
>   concentration/monopolisation)
> - freedom of setting contract conditions (vs Code is Law)

Another basic right is equally important, namely that of property.
Property must be acquired through clear rules and once this has been done
should not be expropriatable.  Moreover the rules for creating property
need to be in accordance with public interest.  Swpat property negates
copyright property.  Although it might be possible to construct a system
that contains both, this system will probably not allow people to feel
secure about what belongs to them and thus nonetheless violate a
constitutional right.  Needless to say, such a violation of constitutional
rights can neither be decided by the EPO nor retroactively instituted by
the European Commission.

Although all rights can have limits, such limiting regulations again have
their limits, and the simple assertion of globalisation necessities or
patentee interests or failures to draw a line etc can not justify any
limit to a fundamental right.

The legal system of European institutions is similar to the German
constitutional order.  It contains even more constraints, such as those of
the European Communities Treaty of 1957 (revised several times, last
around 1992).  In view of all this, very strange things are happening here
recently and we really need to do more to fight for saving our basic order
of civilisation.

--
Hartmut Pilch                                         http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation      http://swpat.ffii.org/
90000 signatures against software patents       http://www.noepatents.org/