UK Judge: Who needs software patents?

Glyn Moody writes "C|Net has a surprising story about a seminar given by a top judge at the U.K.'s Court of Appeal who specializes in intellectual-property law. According to the article, he has "questioned whether software patents should be granted, and has criticized the U.S. for allowing "anything under the sun" to be patented." Is the tide turning?"

Comments

Re:Huh?

[bitkari]

No. Judges aren't The Borg. One judge's opinion (and that's little-o opinion, not an opinion handed down) is hardly a watershed event

But this Judge's opinion is quite representative of the concerns of many in Europe. Remember that the EU software patent directive was rejected by a margin of over 600 votes.

If the concerns of people such as Sir Robin Jacob are well publicised, this can only help educate the public at large and inform the MEPs who vote on such matters.

Re:Huh?

[TheRaven64]

If software companies everywhere in the world except the US can disregard software patents then this will mean:

1. Software development in the US will be more expensive, and/or
2. Software sold in the US will be more expensive

I can think of at least one company with a very large lobbying fund that would not be too happy to see this. Currently, software patents are tolerated by US businesses based on the belief that they will be valid in the rest of the world eventually, and the US will have an advantage since they were allowed to start collecting them before anyone else. If it looks like this is not going to be the case, then I can see a lot of pressure placed on the government to revoke them.