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European Software Patents Not Dead Yet

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the kill-the-head-and-the-body-yet-lives dept.

Ensign Nemo writes "Software patents in Europe still being pushed. They're at it again and they're not waisting any time. Even though opposition is there the backers of software patents are getting sneakier and sneakier." Poland, if you help us out again, I pledge to never, ever forget you.

3 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Stay tuned by Staplerh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hmm. Guess we'll have to wait until next Monday for more definate information. From TFA:

    That the matter would be settled for good next Monday, Luxembourgs Economics Minister Jeannot Krecke for one announced at a meeting of the European Parliament's Legal Committee this Wednesday.

    Hmm.. Guess we'll get yet ANOTHER Slashdot story on Monday - if Ms. Krecke is correct in her prediction. Oh well, this is a matter of importance and I suppose as many news stories/comments as we can read, the better informed we'll all be on the subject!

    --
    "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
    - Bob Dylan
  2. Re:Not to be pedantic, but.. by eric76 · · Score: 4, Informative
    If you create something really novel, even if it is in software, why *shouldn't* you be able to get a patent on it?

    The purpose of patents is to allow the patent holder a limited monopoly on the invention while telling everyone how it's done.

    Think of it as a solution to a problem for which one can, if the solution is truly clever, receive a government granted monopoly on the solution for a period of time.

    What we have now is that any solution, no matter how obvious or trivial, is being granted the same monopoly protection as if it were really unique.

    It's like giving a class a test in which the first person to solve the problem by some method gets an 'A' and the rest using the same method are given 'F's. The question is whether that problem is sufficiently difficult that the other students would have been able to arrive at the same solution without copying the solution of the first to solve the problem.

    If the other students could have only solved the problem by copying that of the first, then the 'F's would be appropriate. But if the problem was such that every student satisfactorally solved the problem on his own, they should all receive 'A's.

  3. Re:Not to be pedantic, but.. by zerblat · · Score: 5, Informative
    Pantents exist to encourage innovation by making research that wouldn't be profitable otherwise possible. Do software patents encourage innovation? Will software patents give us more software related inventions? I haven't seen any studies that indicate that. I have however seen studies that suggest the contrary, that software patents in fact inhibit research (e.g. these two).

    So, tell me again why we should introduce this costly, bureaucratic and monopolistic process. Exactly how will it benifit the citizens of the EU? Will it give us new, innovative software? Will it give us more jobs (apart from all the patent lawyers, that is)?

    --
    Please alter my pants as fashion dictates.