Re: Software patents and Debian

[Nathanael Nerode <neroden@fastmail.fm>]

Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:

> Adam Borowski wrote:
>> On Mon, Aug 21, 2006 at 08:14:04AM +0200, Arnoud Engelfriet wrote:
>> > Of course. The German Supreme Court however has the same
>> > interpretation of "software as such" as the European Patent Office.
>> 
>> This means that they completely disrespect Article 52 [1].  However,
>> their intepretation is a minority.
> 
> The German Supreme Court is the final instance for interpreting
> patent law in Germany. So at least they're a powerful minority.

More powerful than the US situation, where the current law is determined by
the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in clear *violation* of
US Supreme Court precedent.  The Supreme Court is hearing a case soon;
if we're lucky, the US might slash away some of the patent thicket.

> I'm not going to redo the whole debate here; I just tried to
> explain why someone called Germany a rogue country even though
> its patent law is an almost-literal copy of the EPC.

-- 
Nathanael Nerode  <neroden@fastmail.fm>

Bush admitted to violating FISA and said he was proud of it.
So why isn't he in prison yet?...