[ILUG] Re: [IIU] Re: CAI query - patentability of software

[Michele Neylon:: Blacknight]

Timothy Murphy wrote:
> On Fri 10 Jun 2005 23:06, jm at jmason.org wrote:
> 
> 
>>wow, they left it pretty late ;)  here's some items (from a consumer
>>point of view, of course).  Pretty much every point revolves around
>>how patenting increases monopolistic powers and reduces the possibility
>>of competition in the marketplace.
> 
> 
> That's very much - I've passed on your comments (and Paul's) to the CAI.
> 
> 
What it boils down to is balancing protection of intellectual property
against the greater good.
If I invested time and money in producing an original work I would not
appreciate someone else ripping off my work.
However that is covered by copyright law, or at least my understanding
of it.
Patents on the other hand, are much stricter.
However it is not the mere strictness of the patents themselves that
cause issues but the manner in which larger corporate interests are
served through the patenting of concepts that should be free of restriction.
For example, in the spam filtering world, there have been a number of
patents granted which could threaten the future of open source email
filtering solutions.
If each and every user of DCC (http://www.rhyolite.com/) were forced to
pay a license how many people or organisations would continue to use it?
 How many commercial products using this (and other) technologies would
be threatened?
The problem with software patents is that a small number of companies
can stifle evolution.

(Not sure how coherent that was.. red wine has that effect on me)