Re: [Patents] Amsterdam impressions

[Gregory Aharonian <srctran@world.std.com>]

> .. could [Greg] point to any economic study that hints that software
> patents could be useful economically or technically, ......

or "could [Greg] point to any economic study that hints that software
    patents could be as useful or as useless economically or
    technically as electronic patents, etc."

or "could [Greg] point to any economic study that hints that software
    patents in France or Germany could be as useful or as useless
    economically or technically for creating new small businesses
    as current French or German small business economic policies..."

or "could [Greg] point to any economic study that hints that
    software patents could be more useful or less useful
    economically or technically than software copyrights..."

My bet is that the effects of software patents are indistinguishable
from patents in related areas of technology, that if European counties
are really interested in spurring software job growth that they have
better places to look than the supposed ills of software patents (like
European companies outsourcing all of the open source development and
maintenance work to jobs shops in China and India), and that the
general impotence of software copyright (what's left to protect after
you subtract out Abstraction of ideas, Filtration of the prior art,
and obvious Comparisons?) makes it less economically and technically
useful than patents.  My bet.

Look, some of you hate all forms of patents.  At least that is a
consistent position to take, as opposed to coming up with these
artificial distinctions between software technology and other
technologies.  Just stick to attacking the entire patent system.

Greg Aharonian