[ILUG] Sw Patents, Political Party Positions (maybe OT)

[Justin Mason]

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kevin lyda writes:
> for instance iirc ireland doesn't spend as much on r&d per capita as most
> other industrialised countries.  and even if we did, our spending would
> be dwarfed by the uk - nevermind the us, india or china.  patents are
> a state-enforced monopoly on an invention.  this puts irish industry
> at a disadvantage.  the current goverment's position on patents is a
> bit counter-intuitive unless it is willing to make huge investments in
> indigenous software companies.  and even then it is doubtful we'd come
> out ahead.

I strongly get the impression they think that legalising swpats in the
EU will benefit Ireland, in that the big US multinationals will further
choose to base operations and employ staff here in Ireland.

the subtext therefore is, screw the indigenous industry ;)

> there might be some idea that the legal profession would benefit from
> software patents.  it might, but i doubt it would be the irish legal
> profession.  us legal firms have far more understanding of software
> patents, and the vast majority of software patents are in america.
> i don't know where the eu patent office is - if there is such a thing
> - but i bet it isn't in ireland.  and i'd guess that lawyers in that
> country would be best equipped to handle the eu side of software patents.
> the majority of legal fees for the few software patents we would get in
> ireland would likely go to law firms outside of ireland.
> 
> as for defending against patent lawsuits, the irish legal profession
> might come out ahead there - but on the backs of irish industry.
> we're behind on patents.  i doubt many irish software firms are not
> violating at least one patent.  if one looked into the businesses that,
> say, an post and easons are involved in are they violating a software
> patent?  who knows?

You know, that could be a very good approach to take ;)   What about those
e-government systems?  I'll bet there's a few infringements there...

- --j.
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