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German Parliament Tells Government To Strictly Limit Patents On Software

Posted by Unknown on from the can't-patent-this dept.

jrepin writes "On Friday the 7th of June the German Parliament decided upon a joint motion to limit software patents. The Parliament urges the German Government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs (PDF, German; English translation). Software should exclusively be covered by copyright, and the rights of the copyright holders should not be devalued by third parties' software patents. The only exception where patents should be allowed are computer programs which replace a mechanical or electromagnetic component. In addition the Parliament made clear that governmental actions related to patents must never interfere with the legality of distributing Free Software."

9 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Patents for software will expand... by blahplusplus · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... like copyright did. See here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Copyright_term.svg

    1. Re:Patents for software will expand... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course other countries don't implement the same laws as the US.

      Actually they do ... but usually because a US trade delegation foisted it on them after having had industry groups write the text.

      SOPA, software patents, most of the egregious copyright stuff ... all mostly written by industry with other countries heavily pressured to adopt them. Like the "301 watch list" -- it's written entirely by industry, lacking in any objective evidence, but is pushed by the USTR as official policy to browbeat other countries into doing what's in the best interests of US/multinational companies like Sony.

      So, sarcasm or no, it's not as far off the mark as you might think.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  2. Groan by Etherwalk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only exception where patents should be allowed are computer programs which replace a mechanical or electromagnetic component.

    Congratulations. You have just created legislation which will create a mechanical algorithm implementation industry.

  3. Re:The only exception... by White+Flame · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Slide to unlock? That's a physical component that's existed for a long time.

    Maybe skeuomorphics will come back into style because of this.

  4. Re:The only exception... by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Interesting

    IIRC, the first software patent in the US was for the UNIX SUID/SGID bits, and that patent was for the mechanical imlementation, with an "oh by the way, you could do this in software, too" clause, which was the first step down the slippery slope that got us to where we are today. As to a direct answer to your question, how about a software implementation of RSA, rather than dedicated hardware? (Yes, I know, I know, for those of you about to quibble).

  5. radio transceivers? Re:The only exception... by Fubari · · Score: 5, Informative

    computer programs which replace a mechanical or electromagnetic component

    What would be realistic examples of this?

    software based radio? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio
    Excerpt:

    A software-defined radio system, or SDR, is a radio communication system where components that have been typically implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded system.[1] While the concept of SDR is not new, the rapidly evolving capabilities of digital electronics render practical many processes which used to be only theoretically possible.

    A basic SDR system may consist of a personal computer equipped with a sound card, or other analog-to-digital converter, preceded by some form of RF front end. Significant amounts of signal processing are handed over to the general-purpose processor, rather than being done in special-purpose hardware. Such a design produces a radio which can receive and transmit widely different radio protocols (sometimes referred to as waveforms) based solely on the software used.

    Software radios have significant utility for the military and cell phone services, both of which must serve a wide variety of changing radio protocols in real time.

  6. Copyright seems better than Patent. by Fubari · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can copyright possibly be worse than patenting? Copyright seems better to me because
    A patent locks down the idea: "Story Patent: hero rescues the princess from evil knight".
    Copyright allows different versions of that story, e.g. Star Wars: Episode Four, A New Hope.

    There are lots of books, songs, plays, movies, games (console, pc, online); the creative side of the entertainment industry manages.
    Copyrighting software like we copyright books makes wayyy more sense to me than patenting software.
    There are plenty of books about mathematics; programs too.
    Patenting math seems... patently absurd?

  7. Germany, leader of the Free World by intermodal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seems that while other countries are stuck in their backwards application of patent law on technologies for which it was never intended, Germany is recognizing the significant repercussions of allowing such actions. The German Parliament has taken positive steps here to declare that it should not be allowed to be abused in such ways. Bravo, Germany! Bravo. Keep up the good work.

    --
    In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  8. More info on my wiki by ciaran_o_riordan · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been documenting this and have all the background here:

    http://en.swpat.org/wiki/German_parliament_petition_against_software_patents

    --
    Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!