[Gllug] Patents *again*

[Paul Rayner]

On 18 Jan 2006, at 22:33, Peter Childs wrote:

> Now I read that Patents Kill. Not nessessary software patents but  
> Medical ones make developing drugs very expensive and hence slow down  
> research and hence are killing thousands every day.

So if the medical patents weren't granted, who would spend the money  
required for the development of new drugs? I agree that the system  
isn't perfect, but like capitalism in general, nobody has come up with  
a realistic, better alternative. Pharmaceuticals wouldn't spend the  
sums they do on drug development if the patent system wasn't there to  
protect their investment. I think that if you left all medical research  
to governments, scrapping medical patents, the rate of development  
would be much slower.

>
>  Its as if loyers don't have enough to do with the amount of real  
> crime they need to find more!.  I mean come on.
>

I think you'll find there is a surplus of law graduates...

>
>
>  I know I read this  within the last few days but after doing a quick  
> google as to where I got a list of about 100 links all agreeing dating  
> back as far as 2001...

Without wishing to be facetious:

   
	http://www.google.co.uk/search? 
hl=en&q=%22elvis+is+alive%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

	Results 1 - 30 of about 94,900 for "elvis is alive"

>  That the battle is far worse than we thought and we are fighting for  
> far more than computer software, but for the lives of people who will  
> die otherwise.
>

Peter, your email demonstrates the biggest problem I have found when  
discussing patents with (some) FOSS people -  the idea that nothing  
should be patentable keeps cropping up.

I am against pure software patents, patents of algorithms (you can't  
patent a law of mathematics, and an algorithm is an extension of this),  
and I think that the test of a "non-obviousness" is not applied  
strictly enough in many cases (especially in the US). I do not think  
that the EU directive blocked last time by the Poles (after being  
sneakily added to the agenda of an unrelated committee) should become  
law, but arguing against the idea of patents is shooting yourself in  
the foot. Rather than arguing that patents are wrong (most politicians  
will disagree with you), or pointing out the potential negative effect  
upon FOSS (which most politicians sadly don't know/care about), make  
points which will appeal to what they do care about.

Software patents create a huge burden on all software developers, even  
the likes of Microsoft (Eloas) and RIM (NTP). Many software patents  
fail tests of prior art or non-obviousness after the stringent  
examination of a long (expensive) court case, and are used to extract  
money from companies who know this, but prefer to pay up than pay for  
an even more expensive court case. Large companies with patent  
portfolios can cross-license their patents to each other, excluding  
new, innovative competitors from the market. In developed markets (with  
lots of existing patents), the cost of fighting off invalid patent  
infringement accusations creates a very high "barrier to entry" to  
small, innovative companies. These things apply to non FOSS software,  
just as much as they do to FOSS, and (IMHO) are easier points to make  
to politicians.

 From what was said by the staff from the Patent Office at the software  
patent seminars held last year, software is already patentable in the  
UK, if the patent meets all of the requirements for a normal patent. I  
cannot remember the details, and IANAL, but from what I recall software  
is not usually patentable in the UK because the decision was taken  
that, in the general case, software does not meet these requirements -  
it is not normally considered a non-obvious distinct invention because  
it is normally a function of the available hardware (which *is*  
patentable).

Regards,

Paul
--
Paul Rayner
Ylem Solutions Ltd ~ 32-38 Leman St, London. E1 8EW
Office: 020 7173 6241 ~ Mobile: 07739 143 763 ~  
Paul.Rayner at YlemSolutions.com

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