Trivial patents *not the problem* (was: Re: [ILUG] Re: ILUG sends s/w patents briefing document to Irish MEPs)

[Colm MacCarthaigh]

On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 02:40:03PM +0000, Barry O'Donovan wrote:
> Now, from another perspective, the large multinationals that support 
> software patentability (or any other directive or law) usually have 
> well paid professional lobbyists working in Ireland and in the E.U. (as 
> well as the other member states). These people have the ear of the 
> politicians because they bring big money into the country by way of 
> capital investment, corporate tax, jobs etc. Fair enough. FOSS 
> hobbyists and enthusiasts do not have equivalent lobbyists. Nor the ear 
> of politicians without a lot of hard work. So, usually, the people we 
> elect to represent us hear loudly and directly from the multinationals 
> and whispers, if at all, from the rest of us. This may be the 
> democratic society we live in but it doesn't seem very fair.

It's totally unfair :(

> > we can do without software hobbyists in favour of greater employment
> > (say) ? 
> 
> Well we have had both software hobbyists and inceasing employment for 
> years. They have happily co-existed. Are we not the (or at least one 
> of) the biggest software exporters in the world?

We are, thanks mainly to one company - who run all of their european
sales through here for tax benefits, and it's pretty clear they're not
in favour of patents.

>  This is the status-quo. We do not need to prove the argument that
>  software patentability will yield greater employment because we do
>  not have software patentability and we do have a growing number of
>  ICT jobs.

There might be more, who's to know? The argument does need to be proven,
because it is essentially all the politicians care about.

-- 
Colm MacCárthaigh                        Public Key: colm+pgp at stdlib.net