[Sussex] Some Good Will Come From Software Patents

[Gareth Ablett]

 From: Steve Dobson [mailto:steve at dobson.org]
 Subject: [Sussex] Some Good Will Come From Software Patents
 
> I just posted this to Groklaw but thought I would post it here too
> for your amusement and comment.

Thanks I will try my best to add to the amusement and comments

> Okay, I made the title up to be provocative and grab your attention,
but
> one can view software patents as a good thing.
> 
> Let us assume that software patents become the norm in the Western
> Industrialised Nations, not just the US & the EU, but also in Canada,
> Australia, and the rest of the rich countries.  The software patent
> war we all fear ensues and Western Companies spend millions (if not
> billions) suing each other and paying licenses fees.  Even companies
> with large software portfolios find that there is a net loss in the
> licensing business as there are far more licenses that they have to
> be paid than one gets back in royalties.  This all goes to increases
> the costs of doing business in the West, not only are labour, building
> and tax costs higher, now software costs are higher too.
> 
> Enter the Internet.  If you have a IT need that requires technology
> that is expensive to license in the West why not locate it in one
> of the developing nations where software patents laws have not been
> introduced?

Would it not be plausible to just create a company bassed in X country
and have workers around the world developing for them that way the
company in X is owned by company Y in The EU/US, it might be that my
knowledge of patent law is flaky here but that could sideswipe a few of
the legal difficulties.

> If you were Amazon, for example, in the "new world order", and you
were
> faced with a large increase in you IT bill, do you think you would be
> considering all options?  Do Amazon have to have the computers that
take
> your orders close to the warehouse that picks and packet them?  Of
course
> they do not.  So if Amazon where to move their IT departments off
shore
> how many other office based jobs would go with them?  It maybe an
> advantage to have the warehouse in the same geographical area as you
> client for postal cost and delivery time reasons, but the computers
and
> admin staff don't have to be in the same building, or the same state
or
> on the same continent.
> 
> India is currently do a very nice business in outsourcing
call-centres,
> software development and the like.  If the cost of the basic tool of
> business, the computer, is much cheaper there too, how much more of an
> incentive will that be to Western companies to off-shore larger slices
of
> their organisations?

With that same note we will see Africa produce some of the most used
spam emailing software and conning tools. Also they could become the
market leaders in SMTP server environments and the like.

India has some of the biggest call centers in the world and it is hardly
surprising that they create software that there country can buy at a
rather that is expected of a country like India, the average earnings is
a lot lower of these staff and to that end the software is a lot cheaper
and more viable, it is inevitable that the Indians would purchase this
software over the US/EU competition.

> This will move more capital from the richer western nations to the
poorer
> developing ones.  The developing nations will be able to plough more
money
> into their health-care, education and other social programmes, with
the
> result that, over time, the quality of life for their people will be
risen
> to that currently enjoyed in the West.  Isn't that a good thing?
> So while software patents, in and of themselves, are not a good thing,
they
> may well contribute to something that is: the distribution of wealth
around
> the world.

To this end is the only reason I have seen that software patents are as
you say 'Good' but to be good it has to be bad to someone else and well
because of equal and opersite, personally it would effect the EU in a
bad way.
 
> This comment is not a troll, or at least it is not meant to be one.
I'm not
> even sure that I full agree with everything I say here, but it has
been a
> fun mind game to think it through.  If you think that, generally,
Capitalism
> is a good thing when done lawfully, as I do; they you have to accept
the
> exploitation of labour price differences that come with it.  I do not
mean
> here exploitation of the labour force itself.  If one was to build a
facility
> and pay the locals higher than average wages (for that community),
provide
> a better health-care system etc, then that is *not* exploitation of
> the workforce.  All that one is exploiting is the cost of doing
business in
> different regions.
> 
> I put it to you that a world where the wealth is more evenly spread,
where
> everyone has, more or less, the same quality of life, will be a more
peaceful
> one.  And we must all want that, surely.  How we get form here to
their will
> require some pain on the way.  Maybe software patents is just one of
those
> pains.  In that light, aren't software patents a good thing?
> 
> Of course there are other ways to that utopia, so I still oppose
software
> patents on principle.
> 
> Steve


Gareth Ablett
Systems Developer

ITP Services Ltd.
http://www.itpserve.co.uk/

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