Slashdot Mirror
Patent Mess May Stifle Australian Software
gtoomey writes "Australian Open Source lawyer Brendan Scott is claiming the USA/Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will damage all Australian software development.
An article in the Sydney Morning Herald says that developers have probably built products which 'infringe' on U.S. software patents, while the FTA is forcing Australia to adopt DCMA laws."
Currently, the opposition (Mark Latham and the Labor Government) are proposing their own amendments to cater for this issue which would undoubtedly affect developers in Australia and cripple the industry and the economy to a big extent. John Howard, the current Prime Minister of Australia (if you didn't know), says that he is ready to "have a look" at any proposals of amendments to this current dilemma because the national interests of Australia are far more important than any short-term political advantage when it comes to the US-Aus FTA.
There is a reason why the US Senate passed the FTA first. The advantages towards one country seem to significantly outweigh the advantages the other country will receive. At this stage anyway.
I posted this information in the earlier (less specific) story about the FTA's impact on Australian software development, but we really need to take action to let the media and politicians know that this is a big issue.
One of the best tactics is to send letters to newspapers. The FTA is a hot topic in the news right now, so there's a good chance that letters relating to it will be accepted. You can send letters to the editor at the following addresses:
The Australian
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age
You can also let your feeling be known to the shadow minister for the Arts, Sport and Information Technology (Senator Kate Lundy). Her contact details are here. Be sure to mention that this issue will affect your vote.
The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts have so far brushed off any suggestion that Australia's software industry will be harmed by the FTA, and really do not seem to understand the issues. However, you can contact them here, and the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts here. Once again, be sure to mention that this will affect your vote.
You can also find out which electorate you are in, if you don't already know, and send your local federal MP a message about how disappointed you are over the FTA's impact on the IT industry.
Australian copyright law has anti-circumvention provisions and has had since 2001 IIRC.
Australian copyright law is already completely anal. We don't have a concept of fair-use like the US copyright system. We're not legally allowed to tape shows off the TV.
As an Australian software developer (we don't all work for M$, Sun and Apple) patents on really intuitive or evolutionary stuff have always bothered me. Ok... patent some really clever and mind-blowingly original stuff but don't take someone else's idea, improve it and then patent it... innovation will stand still!! I recently saw a DotNet video and some guy was going on about a "new" command shell for Windows called "monad" (I think). You chain simple windows command together with a "|" symbol to get them to do more complex things. Ok, instead of passing text you passing objects (neat!) but as if no-one ever thought of that before! I bet M$ will patent the "|" symbol and then go after bash! The question is, I suppose, how do you know if you are infringing a patent until someone comes knocking on your door? Does it come down to checking every function and algorithm for possible infringement. What can we (as developers, not just Australians) do... any ideas?
Probably not. NZ is substantially an agricultural based exporter. The FTA between Aus and USA provides little benefit to the Aus agricultural exporters (and they are not happy).
In addition successive governments in NZ have not shown a desire to effectively become a close partner with USA at all costs, unlike Aus. Examples of this stance are the long standing Nuclear Free Status which effectively locks out US warship visits and more recently NZs non commitment to the US aggression in Iraq (although we do support UN's involvement).
Hmmm... where are you?
:-), a heap of free radio relays.. etc. If you don't like caps, you can get a "flat-rate" plan that does some prioritisation depending on your current download totals compared to everyone else currently using flatrate. But anyhoo, that's enough Internode fanboyism from me :-)
Check around the ISP's, sounds like your pricing's stuck a few years behind. Might I suggest whirlpool , if you haven't already seen it? Anywhere that Tel$tra's got a DSLAM, you can also get any other ISP in australia that sells ADSL.
I'm in Mount Isa, and I get 512/128 from Internode at $59/mo. That's with 12GB download (capped at 40kb/s after that), a pile of quota-exempt mirrors (mmmm... gentoo rsync
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but here in Europe software patents threaten to become law here too. Although the European people were against them and the European Parliament (sp?) had them watered down in a way it would hardly effect the industry here, the European Commission (most probably bought by M$ and the likes) has decided to propose an even worse variation of the original proposal for law here. Most times if the EC proposes a law, it has become a hammer-piece. .
As a European (Dutch) i keep asking myself what part of the EU government is supposed to be democratic
What person will donate an airborne act of love?
In Australia, you cannot patent artistic creations, mathematical models, plans, schemes or other purely mental processes. This rules out software and half of the other get rick quick patents that US companies apply for. The only protection available for these things is Copyright and computer programs falls within this area, as do other things like double-clicking the left mouse button to make something to happen.
The story also overlooks the basic principle whereby you need to register or file for a patent in each country you want it to be valid in. In short, if a US company has not filed for a patent in Australia, their US Patent isn't worth crap there. The same scenario exists for Australian companies who require patent protection in foreign lands.
Patents are not global, they are local.
If there were some magical retrospetive patent treaty which happened overnight,somehow I think there would be a much higher proportion of Australians lining up to sue US companies for Patent violations, than the other way around. It costs an absolute fortune to apply for a US patent from Australia. Most people and/or small busineses would not have the resources to do this. This means that once the patent application is lodged in Australia, it can be picked up and used by foreign companies without fear of retribution.
First thing, the free trade agreement does not mean that US patents acquire legal force in Australia. All over the world you have to get a separate patent in each country to get patent rights in that particular country. Only way Australian software product can infringe on an American patent is when they export that software to America. Otherwise, American patents will have zero value in Australian courts, unless an Australian counterpart patent is also obtained earlier. Slashdot publishes bizarre patent news without verifying even the basics. This is as stupid as someone going to Sears to buy craftsman tools to write an assembly language program since it will have to be "assembled".