Re: [OT] UK petition against software patents
Chris Lale said...
> If you are a UK citizen or resident and you have a view against
> software patents you might like to consider signing up to this
> formal Petition at Number Ten's website:
>
> http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/softwarepatents/
Excellent. Thanks, Chris.
Extract:
"Software patents are used by convicted monopolists to threaten
customers who consider using rival software. As a result, patents stifle
innovation.
Patents are supposed to increase the rate of innovation by publicising
how inventions work. Reading a software patent gives no useful
information for creating or improving software. All patents are written
in a sufficiently cryptic language to prevent them from being of any
use. Once decoded, the patents turn out to be for something so obvious
that programmers find them laughable.
It is not funny because the cost of defending against nuisance lawsuits
is huge.
The UK patent office grants software patents against the letter and the
spirit of the law. They do this by pretending that there is a difference
between software and 'computer implemented inventions'.
Some companies waste money on 'defensive patents'. These have no value
against pure litigation companies and do not counter threats made
directly to customers."
--
Cheers,
Marc
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