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

[Rui Miguel Seabra <rms@1407.org>]

On Wed, 2003-10-22 at 12:38, old.timer@tiscali.co.uk wrote:
> >James Heald wrote:
> >Patents are supposed to be about allowing a return on an
> >investment, to encourage innovation.
> >Copyright does this for computer programs, so patents aren't
> >needed.
> 
> If that were so (ie. copyright does this for computer programs), people
> wouldn't bother applying for patents for computer programs.

And people don't. Don't believe for a second that most software patents
have been granted having by basis the voluntary wish of the patent
holder.
Its usually lawyers or 'business' men that are pushing for software
patents.

A Portuguese company, MULTICERT, is applying for a software patent
related to timestampping. One of the main developers has reportedly
received a very vocal disagreement from his peers on timestampping
mailing lists.

> I'm happy to support any campaign to stop software patents, but I'm not
> comfortable burying my head in the sand and pretending that they don't 
> already
> exist and/or are illegal.

They don't exist legally. They have been pushed by a careful subversion
of EPC Art. 52.2:

http://swpat.ffii.org/analysis/invention/index.en.html

The current situation is laughable: software 'as such' seems to only
exist inside one's head, not being 'as such' from the moment it's set on
a computer.

> Seems to me that if we pretend software patents don't exist or are illegal,
> we can't complain about all the problems they are causing. And if we can't
> complain about the problems they are causing, how can we object to anything
> that maintains the status quo.

You don't have software patent lawsuits yet because they are not legally
enforceable. If they become legal, lock on to your seat-belts...

Hugs, Rui

-- 
+ No matter how much you do, you never do enough -- unknown
+ Whatever you do will be insignificant,
| but it is very important that you do it -- Gandhi
+ So let's do it...?

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