Posner: patents impeding software development

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966595.html

...

WASHINGTON--U.S. Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner, one of America's 
most prominent jurists, warned Tuesday of an "enormous expansion" of 
intellectual-property law, ...

...

Posner's critique is significant because up to now much of the attack 
on the steady expansion of intellectual-property rights has come from 
the left, and the Seventh Circuit judge is a darling of the 
conservative movement. Posner, a prolific author, is most famous for 
applying economic analysis to the law. He also mediated settlement 
talks in the Microsoft antitrust case.  

...

"A specialized court tends to see itself as a booster of its 
speciality," Posner said. "Patents are clogging retail commerce on 
the Internet, and software (patents) in particular are apparently 
impediments to software development."  

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608   
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
130,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/