EU Moves Towards Single European Patent Standard

theodp writes "A European Parliament committee Tuesday moved toward setting the first pan-European standard for software patents, but outlawed the U.S. practice of patenting business methods, such as Amazon's one-click Internet shopping. 'The European law sets the right benchmark rather than the looser U.S. system,' said the director of public policy for Europe at the Business Software Alliance, which represents 20 software companies including Microsoft and Apple. Amazon representatives in Brussels declined to comment on the new European legislation."

Comments

Re:1.0 is never perfect

[mickwd]

"The US patent system was the first of its kind. The first version of anything is never the best version."

Yeah, that's why the US-designed Internet never really caught on.

D'oh......

(Or should that be S'co........)

Poor economics

[donnz]

There must be a tonne (ton) of PhD thesisss proving what a drain on the world economy patents really are. The more I think about it the less I can see *any* reason for patents. They are an artificial drain in the economy, encourage monopolisation and generally an option that favours huge corporates over the innovative "little" guys.

Are you an ideas person? Go sell that skill to a company that needs ideas, that's what the rest of us do, you don't need patents to make a buck.

The idea of patents encapuslates two mistaken ideals:

1. "The American Dream" - you get to make a shit load of money for nothing.

2. Professionals (read lawyers) are more than "just" about selling services - no no, we sell ideas.

On point two, I should state I am proud to be selling my services. If it makes my clients a lot of money, maybe they'll pay me a lot to keep my services. In the end, why should we be considered better (or worse) than toilet cleaners who do an equally valuable job.