Re: USPTO: an agency in crisis

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

Someone observed:

> >by Lawrence Lessig,
> >   Software developers are quite aware of these costs. Yet economists
> >   have found it very hard to reckon any net benefits. And thus
> >   conservatives are increasingly sceptical of this form of
> >   regulation.
> 
> But in Europe, it is Green and liberal politicians who are most
> strongly against software patents, while conservatives seem to be the
> strongest proponents of the idea.

In the US it is probably the same.

"Conservative" can mean "wary of so-called progressive intellectuals"
while "left" or "liberal" (in US use of the word) could mean "wary of
big business lobbyists".

Both are needed.

"Progressive intellectuals" may be a narcistic bunch that doesn't care
about the real results of what it is advocating.  Big business
lobbyists may have a better sense of organisational realities, but are
often just pursuing parasitic agendas of a few powerful people.

The current setting determines that it is more difficult for us to
convince conservatives than to convince liberals/greens.  

Among liberals/greens we can have both thoughtful persons and lazy
thinkers on our side.  Among conservatives we will probably have only
thoughtful persons on our side.  These of course do exist, in the US
just as here.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608   
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
135,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/