Re: [Patents] newsscan: Software patent limits 'go too far'

[Jean-Baptiste Soufron <jbsoufron@free.fr>]

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 23:29:57 +0200
Jean-Michel POURE <jm@poure.com> wrote:

> > Whatever the european law will tell, there will always be a way to
> > turn around and to protect softwares by patents if politics and
> > judges are convinced it's a good thing to do.
> 
> You are dammed right!
> 
> A law only exists when it can be enforced. Even written, a law needs
> to be suitable, otherwise it is not enforced. In a democratic system
> like Europe, the judges are the first to reject unsuitable laws.

Exactly. 

Sometimes the law is absolutetely the opposite of what is written in the
text... Sometimes it's approaching but there are some very precise
differences... 

> Would you kill you own child if permitted by law? Answer, no.
> 
> Same goes for patents on software. Even if patents on sofware became
> legal and recommanded, the judges would not apply them, because of the
> destructions involved. 

Exact, it's important to make the paradigm evolve. It's important that
people generally understand that patents are not the only way to help
science and knowledge evolve. 

Fortunately, interpretation can also help us in this way...
Interpretation often allows judges to get the better from the text of
the law by comparing different interpretations and chosing the best one.
Of course, it takes a lot of time...