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Europe rejects patent proposal

By Ingrid Marson, ZDNet (UK)

Published on ZDNet News: July 6, 2005, 6:12 AM PT

The European Parliament has rejected a controversial measure that would have legalized software patents in the European Union.

A government representative said that 648 out of 729 members of the European Parliament voted Wednesday to reject the proposal, called the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive, which would have widened the extent to which software could be patented .

The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, or FFII, described the decision as a "great victory for those who have campaigned to ensure that European innovation and competitiveness is protected from monopolization of software functionalities and business methods."

While many software developers have spoken out against the directive from the start, large companies have lobbied in its favor, often via campaign groups such as the Business Software Alliance, CompTIA and the Campaign for Creativity.

These groups and the companies behind them, such as Microsoft and IBM, have put significant money and effort into arguing their cause.

The future of the directive is currently unclear. It is possible that a revised version could be debated in the future. But back in March, Charlie McCreevy, a member of the European Commission, said the Commission would not resubmit a new directive if the Parliament chose to reject the current version.

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Originally posted by LostInSpace:

The European Parliament has rejected a controversial measure that would have legalized software patents in the European Union.

I don't know if this is good or bad, I know that if I invented a unique process for implementing software, I would want to be compensated for my efforts, not have others simply copy what I did, say THANKS and move on. Is this really fair?

I know that a lot of you believe in free software, but that means that someone developes software, which takes an incredible amount of time and then basically doesn't get compensated for their efforts. If someone wants to do this voluntarily, then great for them... Maybe they have a trust fund paying thier expenses, but if they end up using a peice of software, or process automation that I invented to then spread it around for free, I think that is just wrong.

I guess eventually Software writers will be like all other writers, most starving with only the few and well connected making money.

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I don't know if this is good or bad, I know that if I invented a unique process for implementing software, I would want to be compensated for my efforts, not have others simply copy what I did, say THANKS and move on. Is this really fair?

I have unfortunately no translated source(again)but according to the SPIEGEL from the 5.7 2005 unique (software)proccesses(like software for vehicle building machines) are as usual patented,while software has the standard copyright.I'm not very inside the whole patent stuff,but I imagine it to be quite unlovely,if for example norton decided to patent it's anti-virus software,thus forming a monopole-->and opening a giant security hole,as there is no uiversal,perfect anti-virus software(I for example use 2 different ones,just to be sure).And I guess that scenario in their minds the politcians decided to vote against patents for software.

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I'm not very inside the whole patent stuff,but I imagine it to be quite unlovely

The patent system in a word SUCKS. But you really REALLY need something to protect the small inventor. A lot of the problem with patents in the U.S. is

1) How easy it is to patent something simple and thereby prevent ALL similar but not identical concepts from being utilized.

2) How restrictive of technological advancement it its through its draconian employment. Competition is artificially stifled and we end up with a WAY less-than-ideal solutuion. And we are stuck with it.

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Originally posted by Prez:

quote:

I'm not very inside the whole patent stuff,but I imagine it to be quite unlovely

The patent system in a word SUCKS. But you really REALLY need something to protect the small inventor. A lot of the problem with patents in the U.S. is

1) How easy it is to patent something simple and thereby prevent ALL similar but not identical concepts from being utilized.

2) How restrictive of technological advancement it its through its draconian employment. Competition is artificially stifled and we end up with a WAY less-than-ideal solutuion. And we are stuck with it.


If this is true then why is it that most innovation is going on in the US. Even all the big Japanese Electronics Giants have R&D facilities in the US to take advantage of our systems here. If it's so bad, why isn't someone else doing better?
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Patents are THE ONLY way for inovations. Europe is a socialist society which thinks that everything is FOR the people at the expense of a PERSON. If you invent something then it's YOURS nobody elses, even if it benefits the whole entire world. In Russia the inventions started dying out right after the socialist communist revolution. I even remember an article of one guy inventing a new combiner (to harvest wheat) and then he never invented anything again because he didn't get a raise on his job, wasn't recognzed beyond that one article and a pat on the back. Why would you work, invent, publish, do anything at all if you get nothing for it. Would you cook breakfast if you never quenched your hunger, would you take a shower if you never got cleaner, would you work if you didn't earn anything for it, would you invent something if you can't claim it, would you write new piece of software code if you don't get what is rightfully yours? NO, you wouldn't, only those who have nothing of value to offer would ever stand by those words saying that yes they would, they would do that preciselly because they would want those who do have something to offer to follow suit and give them the product of their brains for nothing in return.

Atlas Shrugged.

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If this is true then why is it that most innovation is going on in the US.

One word - capitalism. Don't get me wrong; we NEED a system that protects the inventor. I guess our current system is a bit too imperfect of a solution for my tastes for the reasons I described.

Soback: Very well put. I agree with everything you said, but a lot of innovation is also due to COMPETITION, something that socialism inheritantly discourages.

I just wish we could fix the current US patent system a bit.

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Paranide,

Why should you be able to patent a random order of 1's and 0's? Did those ones and zeros fall into that random order all by themselfs and now allow you to play Battlecruiser, Halflife, send e-mails and shop online, or did someone had to THINK, EXPERIMENT, and PUT those 1's and 0's into a SPECIFIC order, the order in which their MIND arranged it, not yours or anyone elses, and because of that you are now able to use your computer and even post on this board. Or do you still think that this board is just a random chance contraption that came out of nowhere due to random chance arrangement of 1's and 0's that someone madly without reason typed on their keyboard, and not the product of a detirmined mind sitting behind the computer screen and arranging those 1's and 0's to fit his specific goal of preditirmined outcome that HIS mind thought up.

Judge,

Even as you put it double clicking patents. Why not tripple clicking, why not quadrupple clicking, maybe without that guy you would have to click 5 times on a link to buy, 4 times to open in a different window, 3 times to open in the same window, 2 times to save to disk and one time does nothing. Huh, ever thought of that?

So, those of us who do apreciate the value of thought and reason, the value of what others offer us by their inventions, in return will trade them something of value we posses.

However, you don't have to worry, patents are not forever, so even the looters will be able to take over and produce the invention of someone elses mind without payment in return. The problem is, the looters don't even want to wait anymore, they openly take what is not theirs in the name of "social wellfare" for the benefit of all, at the price of the few. The looters moto is: From each according to their ability, to each according to his need...

From Bill Gates to the governments who sue him...

From the bussinesses to the states...

From the emplyed to the unemployed...

From the rich to the poor...

From the workers to the leeches...

From the ability of all these people, to the needs of all the others, by the force of the directive that is enforced at the point of a gun.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need...

[ 07-12-2005, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Soback ]

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You bet I am familiar with Ann Ryan, Street. Atlas Shrugged is only part fiction, Ann Ryan was from Russia, and she wrote the book because she saw what happened to Russia after the Communist revolution, and the claim of social welfare. It has all happened before, and because people are ignorant, don't learn, don't rememember or just plain out chose to ignore because it's easier to, it will happen again. What Europe is doing, Russia did 85 years ago, we know where that led them, in the name of public welfare.

Like I said Nomad, From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. WHAT will you be saying when those with their ability take their abilities away? How will you be taking care of the needy then? (how will you feed the homeles, how will you provide for the un-employed, how will you send aid to Africa, how will you do anything without those people patenting the products of their brains, running factories, corporations, stores...ect.. you think the state can do that, ROFL, you think anyone off the street can run a store, a mine, or a car plant, and all you have to do is put them in the office?, you think any programmer can think up and write a new line of code so that something becomes more accessible and easier to use? Why would they bother if it would be taken away from them? What would they gain? You think you can make me serve you, just because I can, ROFL, just try.

[ 07-16-2005, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: Soback ]

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Amazon is only one example, that's all you hear people saying, Amazon, one click, Amazon. Why, because they don't know any others. Why don't they know any others, because they are far and few in between the LEGITIMATE patents. EU has eliminated all the possiblities of patents, legitimate ones along with the ones like Amazon.

Communism is not the issue, the issue is patents. I am comparing EU speeding down the track towards communism precisely because they are starting to treat certain patents like public property and quoting things like "for public benefit", and you can see where the inovation goes once you achieve the result Russia achieved. That's why EU can throw smoke in peoples faces by contimually reminding them about Amazon, I am trying to blow that smoke and remind them where that road takes them, social communism. You can draw a paralel about EU's download tax (VAT) established in 2003, and their current day demands for own internet so that they can tax all the traffic in 2007. Just like that download tax, this patent issue is just one step on the way of nationalizing any invention the government may want to in the future, all while clouding peoples minds with "Amazon" and "for public benefit".

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