EU Moves Toward Software Patents

edooper writes "Apparently the patent discussion in Europe has taken a turn for the worse. According to the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure: 'This Wednesday, the Irish Presidency managed to secure a qualified majority for a counter-proposal to the software patents directive, with only a few countries - including Belgium and Germany - showing resistance. This proposal discards all limiting amendments from the European Parliament and reinstates the laxist provisions from the Commission, adding direct patentability of data structures and process descriptions as icing on the cake. In a remarkable sign of unity in times of imminent elections, members of the European Parliament from all political groups are condemning this blatant disrespect for democracy in Europe.' Read more: swpat.ffii.org."

Comments

EU MOVES TOWARDS EXTENDING ANUSES!

[Anonymous Coward]

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Ethics of Intellectual Property

[Sarojin]

I've written an essay on this topic for my activist group. Here's a link. The short of it is that IP isn't just and a disasterous sociological construct.

Well that about does it....

[Anonymous Coward]

Well that about does it for freedom in europe - The EU isn't even a proper representation of the people, and yet it seems that europeans have sold their rights away to it without looking at the consequences. This is one of the reasons why the world is going down hill, people sell their rights away to leader without even thinking. (Bush, EU, UN, Etc)

Regarding EU Patents

[Anonymous Coward]

Peoplesprimary have recently published a fantastic in-depth report on the processes involved in EU patents, a highly recommended read for anyone interested in this article.

Patent Schmatent

[Anonymous Coward]

Abolish all patent laws. Problem solved.

It's like adding extra insentive for people to invent stuff. Sorry but if patent laws were scrapped tommorrow would all new kewl ideas and inventions stop?

HELL NO

So what? Worst that could happen is that multiple companys produce the exact same product by stealing the inventors ideas. ... sounds like a nice free market today. And if the inventor has his head screwed on he could get a nice head start.

When judgement day / armegeddon happens noones gonna give a flying fuck about patents it will be every man for himself and still theres gonna be sum fuckers trying to sell you oxygen so you can live!

Re:I'm a USian...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh you must be an EUian fag.

Fact: *BSD is dying

[Anonymous Coward]

There is one thing we have to remember: *BSD is dying. Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sold another troubled OS. Now BSDI too is out of business, and its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS hobbyists, dabblers, and dilettantes. *BSD continues to decay, and nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time; for all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

EU.BS

[Mulletproof]

Yes, lets move towards software patents while forcing MS to reveal their source code to the world at large...

What's the problem?

[n3m3sis]

If there are patents in the USA or Europe just move to a place where there are no patents, are continue developing! I might be off the point. But I think that patents are not Internationally Universal!

Re:It is not MS vs. Linux, it is Patents vs. Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Free Software Doctrine states that patents are bad.* Consult the Little Red Book at gnu.org.

Reasoning: Open source just copies everyone else's ideas without paying anyone, which exactly what the Patent system was designed to prevent. Open sourcers have decided that it would be easier to abolish the patent system rather than actually invent something novel.

*Except when used against SCO.