Do you know what software patents are? Do you know why they’re bad?
Software patents means that companies can patent simple procedures or even concepts used in software engineering. Software Patents have become a major problem in the US. The EU are trying to introduce the similar legislation here.
Please sign this petition to register your disagreement.
Here’s another.
This is not the first time they’ve tried to pass this legislation. The last time was in January when it was tacked on to the end of a fisheries bill that was later rejected.
If you’re unsure as to why software patents are a bad idea please speak to me for further information on the consequences.
As recently as last week there was news from Japan where a software patent was used to stifle innovation and competition when the maker of a popular word processor was ordered to take its product off the market due to a patented feature. The feature? The use of a help icon to invoke “help” features. This particular story has a happy ending as the court ruling was overruled. Care to imagine a world where such court cases are common place?
The Dutch Parliament has already voted against software patents but it is vitally important that we register our disagreement with legislators in Europe before it’s too late.
Here are some links:
- WikiPedia article on software patents
- softwarepatents.co.uk discusses why software patents are bad
- Story from the register yesterday
FOLDOC says it well when it describes software patents as:
A patent intended to prevent others from using some programming technique
You’re so civic-minded.
You believe it to be an important issue, right?
I believe it’s symptomatic of a larger issue that I believe its opponents only exacerbate. And I do believe that that larger issue is important, in fact that it’s the defining issue of the past 100 years or so. (I’m referring of course to the birth of post-rationality and all its associated ills.)