Petition against EU software patents

ZeroTolerance writes "The FFII has set up a letter to the EU competition commisioner about the proposal for the introduction of a software patenting system similar to that in the US. Read more about it at swpat.ffii.org (in German) And sign the petition here (in English; German, French, Italian and Esperanto versions also available) " Trust me. You folks don't want the US style patents. Unless you have a silly lawsuit fetish.

Comments

The US Patent Law is interesting...

[stryemer]

I've been reading a book lately on how to protect your intellectual property, and found a few cool things out about software and patents. 1. Ideas are not patentable. Only methods. 2. If you or someone else comes up with a "cool" idea at work, no one owns that idea. It's only when someone creates an implementation on work time does the company own it. 3. (If I read the text correctly) Code is covered under copyrighting, not patenting. So, ripping off someone's code is a lot like plagerism. Now, if hardware is involved, then it's patentable. 4. The US does not have a "first to file" law whereas other countries do. As I read it, if you can prove that you came up with your method before Microsoft or Intel (for example) then it's your idea. (I think some European countries do first to file) 5. Don't develop you cool ideas at work. I know we all work 80+ hours a week, but here's a good excuse to go home. If you develop your ideas at work, work owns your ideas. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't think about your ideas or write them down, just don't steal that pad of paper or use cycles on the local supercomputer. These little gems came out of a book called: Protecting Your Ideas : The Inventor's Guide to Patents Before signing any petition, I recommend that people buy a book on IP. It could prove interesting. -Stryemer ;-) P.S. Who's starting that fund to protect the small developers from the giants? I'll contribute!
-Stryemer
We are the music makers,
and we are the dreamers of the dream.