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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".
The WIPO Treaties (yes, there's more than one) call for the outlawing of the act of circumvention when performed for unlawful purposes. But it doesn't call for an outright ban on circumvention devices. That's a result of intense lobbying by the entertainment "industry". You can be Russia (also a WIPO "contracting party") won't be getting a DMCA.
Every bloody emperor has his hand up history's skirt [Peter Hammill/VdGG]
Take a look at the independent consultation run in the UK and its very different conclusions (I would go so far as to say much more sensible). If harmonisation were to be called for, Britain could create a stushio about it and kill it yet.
http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/concl usions.htm
Actually the Greeks had what could be called a real Democracy. Of course women and children couldn't vote, but it was the civic duty of all men who were citizens of Athens to vote and serve if called upon. The Roman Empire came after the Greeks and could be considered a monarchy.
For myself I think that some sotware patents are just plain silly. What about the amazon one click buy patent, that is just stupid. (Not really differnt from pressing the coke button on a vending machine.)
I think the problem is that the people that looks trough the patent applications in some cases have no clue on what they are reading. Hence a large number of stupid patents slip trough. Did you hear about that Russian compay that managed to patent the use of a regular bottle?
One idea would be to make all patent applications public availabe, that way anyone could send the patent officials their input if they thought the patent was faulty. Only problem with this approch would be if a patent didn't go trough because of some minor detail, and sombody precived this and send in another application. But that would really be a minor problem in contrast to what's happening right now.
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Slashdot signature: 'Laugh assist to nerd'
Merely reading the executive summary, it seems that the commission has already sided in favor of software patents. This is probably a combination of the influence of the pro-patent side, the somewhat neutral or negative view of open source advocates, and potentially immature responses on the part of open source and free software advocates. We could definitely learn some lessons on how not to advocate our position in the future.
At the same time the review appears to have a very negative view of the anti-patent side. Opposition is limited to a three or four word summary (at best), and the Eurolinux coalition's work is somewhat summarily dismissed as a "petition" (quotes from original document). And for chrissake's people, when writing to an important review like this, don't resort to childish tactics like "Micro$oft"; it just gives the other side opportunity to point out (possibly correctly, at times) what a childish bunch those open source freaks are.
Overall, I'd like to applaud EuroLinux for organizing the petition. In the grand scheme of things it may not have made that much of a difference, but we do need to keep trying.
-jdm
the official info is here
a good example of how TRIPs can be a Bad Thing is here
dense analysis in small font size is here
don't like how any of that sounds? fight it. come to kanaskis g8 2002. info here
2 1337 4 u!
You are misinformed on several accounts.
First of all, most nations had no intention of ratifying Kyoto until after the planned summit where nations would come to an agreement about how to interpret the treaty and enforce the details. That was supposed to happen in Hague last year but due to disagreement was postponed. But the agreement finally came through in Bonn a few weeks ago and now the governments are indeed preparing for parliamentary ratification. The timetable differs between nations but the EU has said it is aiming for full ratification before a summit next year.
As for "crippling" the economy, this can be debated. Clearly there will be a short term economic hit, but that is the price we -- as in all industrialized nations -- must pay for making a mess of the environment and our own future living conditions. The more we postpone it, the more potential human suffering and long-term economic problems we will face.