Software Patent in Europe ? No, thanks ;)

[Pype.Clicker]

all started with a question of

btw: what's this rumble about software patent rights in european community??!! will they sue even the publication of a self coded os?

which was replied by

The thing is that the US has software patents, that US companies file such patents, and that US companies use such patents as a "currency" when making agreements (i.e., patents exchange agreements or whatever they are called).

Now the EU people think, "gee, this ain't funny, we are at a disadvantage", and rush to implement software patents of their own.

No, a self-coded OS won't be sued per se, but be prepared to face a shitload of legal hassles once you get successful enough to show up on the radar of i.e. Microsoft, IBM, Intel, or some other big player.

Which makes BI think that

oh sweet gosh a'mighty...

As if we needed this godd(a)mn load of crap eu-law.

@topic: thats a good thing. spreading grub.

[Pype.Clicker]

As if we needed this godd(a)mn load of crap eu-law.

Hmm. Afaik, things are not exactly like Solar described them ... US big companies are trying to push (lobby) the EU people to make them adopt a software patent system (as it exists in the US, so that they can rulez us aswell), but there's a movement (and a petition) to prevent this to occur. The recent decision of the EU was not to adopt the patenting system, but keep the copyright system that has been in application in Europe so far.

quoting a mail from http://petition.eurolinux.org/,

last Wednesday the Directive on Computer-Implemented
Inventions has passed the European Parliament in first reading.
That the Commission's directive had been
amended by European Parliament to reaffirm EPC Art 52 excluding
the patentability of computer programs as such is a victory for
Parliament and for the Eurolinux alliance [1] and we thank you
for supporting the petition that started all this !

one of the sole fields where software could be patented is the case of an embedded system where the software is a control logic that is inherently dependent of a more complex patentable system (think of an airbag, for instance, or an engine control. The software that controls those system could be patented, which is imho a fair practice and makes more sense than patenting algorithms such as LZW compression or true type fonts rendering).

[BI lazy]

Ah, I feel a bit comforted now...

It makes one feel like living in a tumbler and outside are poiticians and bureaucrats pressing always the on-button - and picking the good things that fly out of it, when you are here in austria, where politics canna stand *against* destructive eu-laws.

Oh, and this point about US biggies wanting to convince some lobbyists in brussels to adopt a kind of software patents - oh sweet jesus, its plain clear now ... don't they fear big europe prospering and growing beyond the reach of big big not so prosperous usa?

well, to say it with tim robinsons words: grr, rant, etc...

One thing comes into my mind: did they(eu) think it is good to protect the big ones against the competition of many small ones - in terms of os/application development? For I believe in free competition on the market which forces the guys to build good reliable marketable things, i couldn't imagine to like products not well developed by some patent protected dinosaurs which are more busy with law suits than with developing software...

oh ... stop ranting now, time to have some food...

[Solar]

Whoa! Seems like I haven't been in touch with news the last week.

You are right, Pype - the EU parliament has declined the patentability of "pure" algorithms last Wednesday.

However, for the last three years or so, debates did sure look like the patent lobbyists would win.

That's a small victory for us here, but one problem remains: Software can still be patented outside the EU, which

a) puts EU-based IT industry big players at a disadvantage;

b) still doesn't help US-based developers, or the shipping into the US.

Ah, brave new computer world.

[Pype.Clicker]

don't they fear big europe prospering and growing beyond the reach of big big not so prosperous usa?

Hmm ... as there's no 'big euro-players' in software development (afaik, Suse excpeted maybe ?), i guess they fear nothing. I guess they just want to rulez the market through their patents in the same way they do @home ...

I think US laws completely failed to prevent monopoly at all, or sometimes just replaced monopoly by duopoly ... Oh dear, gimme a good "Esc" button so that i can reset the world =[

[BI lazy]

*hands pype a handy with Number to Gosh A'mighty and suggests to call for another Arche Noah*

resetting the world ... nice idea ... maybe after some millions of years later, next generation of mankind is *wiser*??

@solar: In the eighties, being brave in the computer world meant: Having a c64/amiga and doing some daddling/coding and being famous in the demo scene. they once asked me to create a demo at the C64-user-group vienna, but I refused for I didn't and still do not like such public interesting things ... they don't last long ... These were the days of brave computing. Oh nostalgia sweet of fragrance arest thou...

[Solar]

Correct - US law has nothing against a monopoly, only against a monopoly abusing its power.

But pray tell, how can a monopoly not be abusive? How can Microsoft predominance not be discouraging to OS / office developers?

And even then, Microsoft clearly proved they can get away with everything.

All you hardcore "no Microsoft" OS coders out there: If Microsoft approached you and offered, say, 10,000 $ each month for the rest of your life, plus college payed for each of your kids, if you just stopped that OS project of yours - would you decline?

Microsoft can buy any serious competition straight out, without breaking a sweat.