[Patents] Re: industrial application and swpat

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 19:52:04 +0100 (CET)
From: PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>
To: intprop-l@topica.com
Subject: Re: [Patents] industrial application and swpat (fwd)

> > The law should supersede the theory and force its correction,

> By the same token a law that contradicts reality is meaningless. A
> figment of imagination.

Even when "stealing with a further righteous effect" becomes daily
reality, theft will remain illegal, and those who try to abolish an
anti-theft law only reinforce that law by loudly accusing themselves of
theft.

The 100k petition signatories and 1400 consultation participants will not
be fooled.  They are asking clear questions, such as

1 The EPO has been granting patents on information objects
  ("computer program product", "computer program", "data structure") since
  1998.  Are you willing to change that ?

2 The EPO has been granting patents on processes whose
  inventive core consists in a pure computer program since 1986.  Are you
  willing to change that ?

The EC patent experts have delayed the answer and kept silence for several
months while allowing their lobby in various countries to create more
established "realities".

This shows that they at least have a conscience, even if a bad one.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch                                         http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation      http://swpat.ffii.org/
100000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/