Slashdot Mirror
EU & US Patent "Syncing"
Christian Treczoks writes "Software patents are threatening Europe, too. The EC said "we want software patents to harmonize with the US", but the public - private persons and small to medium businesses - objected. So they made an "Analysis" of the replies.
Effectively, 91% are against patenting software, but, as the majority of the proponents are important business figures, it's a draw. " Mmmm...corporate interests. "Fun".
It was discovered that the PDF had a virus..
..Oh, and that virus was protected by international copyright law. By spreading the virus without charge, you may run into some legal problems.
air and light and time and space
Typical slashdot: patents are bad! Boo to property rights!
/. and get back to hacking on .NET!
Fine, if property rights are so bad, I'll just take your car and bank account, okay?
Bill, stop reading
Hell, he might have even had a patent on the concept of good programming.
Well, _that_ will stop microsoft.
The workers control the means of production!
Well here in Ireland we will be having an election in the next year or so ... guess what the canvassers to my house will be asked about ... software patents, reverse engineering, government expenditure on proprietary software (including training), fair use and internet censorship/monitoring. I am sure not one will be able to convince me they have a clue but it will be fun to see them try!
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
I've got a syncing feeling about this.
but they're wicked hard to write, and doing so would take so much time. But no one has a patent on a "left outer join" yet so I'll just describe the idea, whip up some bullshit examples of what the code might look like if I ever got around to writing it, and as soon as I get Pending status I'll send out dozens of letters demanding millions in licensing fees to companies like Oracle, IBM, and Microsloth. Then it's off to the Carribean for early retirement.