[ILUG] Somtware Patents Info Required

[kevin lyda]

On Tue, Mar 08, 2005 at 01:22:17PM +0000, John Madden wrote:
> Sweet God. I'm not reading any more of that patent. It could easily be
> used against practically every shop in the country with one of those
> little keypads for credit for prepaid phones (input device is a keypad,
> recording device is a receipt). I reckon, at a stretch, it could
> probably be used against ATM's aswell.

in general s/w developers shouldn't read s/w patents, particularly in
fields they are working in.

i'm a s/w developer, not a business person, but it is my understanding
that irish companies are competing very effectively around the world in
pre-paid topup.  if there is a non-irish patent that covers this field,
it will damage several irish companies.

if john's reading is correct it will hurt more companies than niall
mentions.  as john points out, aib and boi both do topups on their atm
machines.  and several companies offer pre-paid topup vending machines.

however there's really not much more i can add on this part of the
topic.  however if just one patent can have this much effect on irish
industry, it is clear to me that mccreevey's action if left unchecked
will have a disasterous effect on irish companies.

kevin

-- 
kevin lyda ~ dems for torture: salazar(co/10) landrieu(la/08) pryor(ar/08)
kevin at ie.suberic.net ~ nelson(fl/06) nelson(ne/06) lieberman(ct/06) 2/2/04
  Those who refuse to raise their voices against something as clearly evil
  as torture are enablers, if not collaborators.  --Bob Herbert, 2/11/04