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Warning: post about European law. It's gonna be good though, I swear.
I thought I'd post this because a lot of people on this forum probably plan to work in the software industry and so software patents will directly affect them; but ordinary computer users will also face the consequences so it's worth knowing and doing something about.
Basically, Europe has previously banned patents on software but is now planning to introduce a US-style patent system, mostly thanks to lobbying from Microsoft and Nokia. Software patents would be a disaster.
Quick summary of why:
*Software is already protected by copyright, so it is not possible to steal the work of others.
*Patenting an idea is pretty absurd. McAfee recently got a patent for spam filtering techniques using Bayes filters - Bayes was an 18th Century mathematician who presumably was not working for McAfee at the time.
*If patenting had been around at the dawn of computer science then the industry would be at a standstill: no searching, sorting, memory management, GUIs - at least not without paying huge royalties.
*Patents are used by big companies to threaten small, innovative companies. Bill Gates said "If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. ... The solution is patenting as much as we can. A future startup with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high. Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors." What a git.
There are many other good reasons to not have patents: [URL]http://swpat.ffii.org/archive/quotes/index.en.html[/URL] for a selection of quotes from the industry; [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1255860,00.html[/URL] for an article from the Guardian; or just search Slashdot.org for 'patents'.
I've just written to my MEP about it. There's already a big campaign going on so if anybody here wanted to get involved and write to their MEP then that would be great ( [URL]http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm[/URL] to find them). You can also fax your MP from, er, faxyourmp.com
Cheers for reading!
I thought I'd post this because a lot of people on this forum probably plan to work in the software industry and so software patents will directly affect them; but ordinary computer users will also face the consequences so it's worth knowing and doing something about.
Basically, Europe has previously banned patents on software but is now planning to introduce a US-style patent system, mostly thanks to lobbying from Microsoft and Nokia. Software patents would be a disaster.
Quick summary of why:
*Software is already protected by copyright, so it is not possible to steal the work of others.
*Patenting an idea is pretty absurd. McAfee recently got a patent for spam filtering techniques using Bayes filters - Bayes was an 18th Century mathematician who presumably was not working for McAfee at the time.
*If patenting had been around at the dawn of computer science then the industry would be at a standstill: no searching, sorting, memory management, GUIs - at least not without paying huge royalties.
*Patents are used by big companies to threaten small, innovative companies. Bill Gates said "If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. ... The solution is patenting as much as we can. A future startup with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high. Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors." What a git.
There are many other good reasons to not have patents: [URL]http://swpat.ffii.org/archive/quotes/index.en.html[/URL] for a selection of quotes from the industry; [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1255860,00.html[/URL] for an article from the Guardian; or just search Slashdot.org for 'patents'.
I've just written to my MEP about it. There's already a big campaign going on so if anybody here wanted to get involved and write to their MEP then that would be great ( [URL]http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm[/URL] to find them). You can also fax your MP from, er, faxyourmp.com
Cheers for reading!
Warning: post about European law. It's gonna be good though, I swear.
I thought I'd post this because a lot of people on this forum probably plan to work in the software industry and so software patents will directly affect them; but ordinary computer users will also face the consequences so it's worth knowing and doing something about.
Basically, Europe has previously banned patents on software but is now planning to introduce a US-style patent system, mostly thanks to lobbying from Microsoft and Nokia. Software patents would be a disaster.
Quick summary of why:
*Software is already protected by copyright, so it is not possible to steal the work of others.
*Patenting an idea is pretty absurd. McAfee recently got a patent for spam filtering techniques using Bayes filters - Bayes was an 18th Century mathematician who presumably was not working for McAfee at the time.
*If patenting had been around at the dawn of computer science then the industry would be at a standstill: no searching, sorting, memory management, GUIs - at least not without paying huge royalties.
*Patents are used by big companies to threaten small, innovative companies. Bill Gates said "If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. ... The solution is patenting as much as we can. A future startup with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high. Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors." What a git.
There are many other good reasons to not have patents: [URL]http://swpat.ffii.org/archive/quotes/index.en.html[/URL] for a selection of quotes from the industry; [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1255860,00.html[/URL] for an article from the Guardian; or just search Slashdot.org for 'patents'.
I've just written to my MEP about it. There's already a big campaign going on so if anybody here wanted to get involved and write to their MEP then that would be great ( [URL]http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm[/URL] to find them). You can also fax your MP from, er, faxyourmp.com
Cheers for reading!
I thought I'd post this because a lot of people on this forum probably plan to work in the software industry and so software patents will directly affect them; but ordinary computer users will also face the consequences so it's worth knowing and doing something about.
Basically, Europe has previously banned patents on software but is now planning to introduce a US-style patent system, mostly thanks to lobbying from Microsoft and Nokia. Software patents would be a disaster.
Quick summary of why:
*Software is already protected by copyright, so it is not possible to steal the work of others.
*Patenting an idea is pretty absurd. McAfee recently got a patent for spam filtering techniques using Bayes filters - Bayes was an 18th Century mathematician who presumably was not working for McAfee at the time.
*If patenting had been around at the dawn of computer science then the industry would be at a standstill: no searching, sorting, memory management, GUIs - at least not without paying huge royalties.
*Patents are used by big companies to threaten small, innovative companies. Bill Gates said "If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. ... The solution is patenting as much as we can. A future startup with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high. Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors." What a git.
There are many other good reasons to not have patents: [URL]http://swpat.ffii.org/archive/quotes/index.en.html[/URL] for a selection of quotes from the industry; [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1255860,00.html[/URL] for an article from the Guardian; or just search Slashdot.org for 'patents'.
I've just written to my MEP about it. There's already a big campaign going on so if anybody here wanted to get involved and write to their MEP then that would be great ( [URL]http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm[/URL] to find them). You can also fax your MP from, er, faxyourmp.com
Cheers for reading!
That'd suck balls, completely.
But, Linux/Unix based system software wouldn't be affected, would it? Because it's free, it's not being sold commercially.
But, Linux/Unix based system software wouldn't be affected, would it? Because it's free, it's not being sold commercially.
I don't know how it would effect open source software to be honest but I do know that most people in the Linux movement are vehemently opposed to software patents. If Microsoft (or whoever) cooked up a lawsuit against an open source organisation then it would do a lot of damage in lawyers fees even if MS lost. But anything that makes it more difficult for programmers to to do a job and earn a living is bad news for open source anyway.
If you are worried about it then please think about sending a quick letter to your MEP: I'm guessing these people are technologically pretty clueless and if they only hear from Microsoft and Nokia then they'll most likely vote for patents. The European parliament already voted in our favour once; the council of ministers is trying to overturn this but if we keep the pressure on our MEPs then we can stop patents for good.
If you are worried about it then please think about sending a quick letter to your MEP: I'm guessing these people are technologically pretty clueless and if they only hear from Microsoft and Nokia then they'll most likely vote for patents. The European parliament already voted in our favour once; the council of ministers is trying to overturn this but if we keep the pressure on our MEPs then we can stop patents for good.
gamesfreak wrote:
> But, Linux/Unix based system software wouldn't be affected, would it?
> Because it's free, it's not being sold commercially.
With SCO controlling Unix and threatening Linux a lot with pointless legal actions I think it would be affected.
> But, Linux/Unix based system software wouldn't be affected, would it?
> Because it's free, it's not being sold commercially.
With SCO controlling Unix and threatening Linux a lot with pointless legal actions I think it would be affected.