Re: [Patents] Patents meeting in Cambridge last week - follow up

[Hartmut Pilch <phm@a2e.de>]

> > Still much of this is under the assumption that
> >
> >     1. We somehow can't get around software patents
> >     2. There is a lot of good will out there for reforming the patent
> >        system
> >
> > I think these two assumptions contradict each other.
> >
> > If there was good will for all the small reform measures which you are
> > proposing, then there would also be good will for considering to adopt
> > a strict approach such as that in the early days of the European Patent
> > Office, which you find exemplified at
> >
> >     http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/epo-t850022/
>
> To say it better: many of the reform measures which the participants of
> your meeting proposed are much more far-reaching and difficult to
> implement than a decision to return to the standards of EPO T22/85, i.e. a
> correct interpretation of the current law.

And they might generate even more resistance from the patent lobby's side,
because they would, once taken seriously,

 - make at least as many (probably many more) patents invalid
 - address an even wider array of problems of a system which fears any
   kind of change like an old man fears a surgical operation

Still, these 2 approaches don't exclude each other, and it is good that
more people are pointing to the problems.