*Eolas* may just be the tip of the iceburg ...

[RelandR]

PETITION:: http://noepatents.org/index_html?LANG=en

..this nonsense could grow out of control. Once a precedant takes hold, it's hard to kill.....

extending to the rediculous -
Imagine if the guy who first thought up the idea of a 'window-crank' to roll down your window in the car had received a patent for it ? ... etc., etc ....

from knopper.net::

"Software-Patents" in Europe: The threat prevails

Soon the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will again decide about the legalisation and adoption of so-called "software patents" in Europe, which are already used by large companies in other countries to put competitors out of business. This can lead to the termination of many software projects such as KNOPPIX, at least within Europe, because the holders of the over 30,000 already granted "software patents" (currently without a legal foundation) can claim exclusive rights and collect license fees for trivial things like "progress bars", "mouseclicks on online order forms", "scrolling within a window" and similar. That way, software developers will have to pay the "software-patentholders" for using these features, even in their own, completely self-developed applications, which can completely stall the development of innovative software for small and medium companies. Apart from this, the expense for patent inquiries and legal assistence is high, for even trying to find out if the self-developed software is possibly violating "software-patents", if you want to continue to market your software. Contrary to real patents, "software-patents" are, in the draft proposed by the commission, monopolization of business ideas and methods, even without any tangible technical implementation.

Check here for a lot of info and links,
an online info portal to (hopefully) squash it::
http://swpat.ffii.org/index.en.html

[λ]

there's a petition here: http://www.ffii.org/ffii-cgi/eintrag?f=euparl&l=en

I remember signing it :)

offtopic: knoppix rocks

[eyezberg]

http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36094

[comicGeek]

Man what are they trying to do?

On another note, I heard that in UK, I think, they are trying to get rid of "open source"! They want to monopolize the market knowing that it is big and the future of business is there!

[RelandR]

Joe: that's what brought it to mind ...

this is in the same vein, but a scary extension to that thread...

Comic: yup - M$ could probably handle it tho :-\

[comicGeek]

So basically we can expect that to go online means to pay for your phone, your ISP, your license to use your mousewheel, your license for clicking a button, for making a website,..... and so on and on and on that it becomes too expensive to be online!

[RelandR]

where it could lead is impossible restrictions on the smallish software ppl and the open source market leaving only the big, deep pocketed evile~empires to survive and control the internet and all things computer

...phiiiil ... this one here is for real

[comicGeek]

If this goes the first people who will be affected are the freelancers! Hey wait I am freelancer! :d:

[RelandR]

*Bumpage*
just like the 'eolas' situation (x's god knows how much) ... many others may / will follow suit if laws like this aren't squashed / overturned / etc.

whether it be in Europe or the U.S. - once it becomes common place to extend patents to the rediculous, the arena of thought, there will be no room for the independant guy, just the high-priced megla~corps who can afford to pay the extortionists license fees and then pass the costs to all of us.

I can't believe that there isn't more outcry and interest in this issue

(¿WTF?).. :sure: ..

[junahu]

So what exactly are they changing in the patent law? In england I'm fairly sure that a product or design has to be new, non obvious (as decided by a person with average expertise in the field), creative (Not just two previous ideas slapped together) and the product must give rise to a techincal effect (the innovation has to be within the hardware and not the software. If the software is used to allow the hardware to perform its innovative task then the software is covered by the patent). In the US I think the last critereon is missed out.

Another point: Why aren't people complaining about the effects of design patents also? If the rights proposed over utility patents transfer over to design patents then that would wreak havok over web site design (Ie. you could trigger a lawsuit by using the same visual technique!)

[junahu]

Just read the thread.

That is serious. With out the technical effect critereon businesses won't have to use trojan horse hardware to shoehorn a software patent into the state of the art.

Rest assured I'll put this in my college presentation.


....Imagine if smilies were covered by a design patent. What would we use then? Mnemonics?

14.25 unha
34.98 conc
14.26 ppy

[RelandR]

yepYepYep...

you bet yer Arse this is serious :!:

every little bit of ground these bozo's take gets us closer to a thought police scenario

http://noepatents.org/index_html?LANG=en