Software Patents in Europe

nadir

NO Software Patents in Europe

We are protesting against software patents in Europe.

Most software will become illegal to use in Europe if this dangerous directive is adopted without proper amending.

The Commission and the Council of Ministers are covertly pushing for unlimited patentability of software, heavily lobbied by multinationals and patent lawyers. They are ignoring the democratically voted decision of the European Parliament from 24 september 2003, which has the support of more than 300.000 citizens, 2.000.000 SMEs, dozens of economists and scientists.

Ok so i see some linux sites are up in arms - http://demo.ffii.org/

So whats the deal then, is it really this bad, are we turning into America?

also paying attention to

The Irish EU Council presidency has circulated a paper among governental ministries which contains alternative suggestions to the amendments on the directive "on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions" passed by the European Parliament (EP). In contrast to the EP version, the council version permits unlimited patentability and patent enforceability. Following the current version, "computer-implemented" algorithms and business methods would be inventions in the sense of patent law, and the publication of a functional description of a patented idea would constitute a patent infringement. Protocols and data formats could be patented and would then not be freely usable even for interoperability purposes. These implications might not be apparent to the casual reader. Here we try to decipher the misleading language of the proposal and explain its implications.

Is our governmnt actaully able to affect the outcome of this. And what does this mean for linux?
opinions !

Red Alert

I think this particular bill would be the worst piece of legislation ever to hit our shores.

It would (legally anyway) stop casual people like me from trying to integrate say linux sign-ons to active directory. Sounds crazy!