Re: [Patents] philosophical aspects of software patents

["mi.ro@iol.it" <mi.ro@iol.it>]

> Hi all. I'm sorry for my english. Forgive me in case of errors.
> I think that philosophically, patenting a trap mouse or a LZW compression 
> algorithm is the same matter. Both cases include patenting an original 
> idea, that can be invented and described by writing with a pen on some 
> paper. The media that implements the idea comes later.
> The problem is in the economy, and it is a philosophical problem too. Given 
> that a liberal society relies on rules granting rights to the individuals. 
> It works this way.
> What to say in a case where you have a economic system, where thousands of 
> people use to write their own software alone? With an investemnt of 500 
> euro to buy a personal computer?
> If you get a law that kills their own ambitions, can we still call it a 
> liberal law?
> You may say that this is irrelevant, that in the real world software 
> inventions need huge investments that a single citizen cannot afford. It is 
> false: the vim community says they are threaten by swpats.
> A law capable to kill the vim project cannot be called "liberal". A liberal 
> society has to get into account "social enterprises" as a economic matter, 
> because they realize part of the economy.
>
> Regards. Roberto Micarelli
>

I try to explain it better, even if it isn't worth any response. In my 
opinion a "social enterprise" is a spontaneous aggregation between 
individuals around an agreed mission.
Tecnology advances (say Internet) allow today the build of such aggregations 
and allow them to be productive in software development. This fact has 
generated an economy based on derived software artifacts. They are the result 
of spontaneously coordinated individual work, summed up to complete IT 
systems. Usually done without any fee. It's a kind of personal investment to 
reach a target, that in one's own mind can be also "economic".
A liberal law must protect my investment the same way it must protect the 
investment of a big company. Current patening proposals do not show this 
feature because are "money-powered" instead of "rights-powered". Rights make 
money, money do not make rights.

Rob.