UK Liberal Democrats "concerned" about software patents (draft IT policy document)

[Alex Macfie <alex@cgce.net>]

From the Liberal Democrats draft IT policy document, due to be voted on at 
the party's Spring conference (March 14--16).

http://www.makeitpolicy.org.uk/PP-ISociety-Copyright.html
(in the middle of a section about copyright, which is a pity as these are 
really separate issues)

> We are especially concerned about the use of patents in the area of 
> computer software in this respect.
>
> There are usually many ways to achieve the same objective using computer 
> code. The public benefits from the fact that different teams of 
> programmers will work on solving problems and release their separate 
> solutions as competitors in the market. The specific code each team has 
> written is protected by copyright. Allowing a wide definition of 
> inventiveness for patents in the field of software could lead to a 
> reduction in this creative activity. This might be justifiable if there 
> were evidence that the software industry as a whole were suffering because 
> of an inability to secure revenue for research and development but there 
> is no evidence that this is the case as the sector remains vibrant and growing.