QUOTE OF THE DAY: CNET has a report on the software patent debacle in Europe, where they have nitwits like Rufus Pollock from the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) saying pompous things like "as all informed observers know, promoting innovation is a matter of striking a correct balance between protection and monopoly. Innovation and ideas must be 'adequately rewarded,' and this is precisely what software patents do not do."
Anyways, my favorite line of the article was when they described the members of the EU parliment responsible for debating the software issue:
In September 2003, the European Parliament tried to water down the council's Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions by adding amendments to it that would restrict widespread software patenting.
This move was rejected by the council in May, and the parliament is expected to begin its work again in November. Because the parliament has appointed former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard--who has described himself as a "supporter of free software"--to lead its response to the council, there is speculation that it could take a hard line.
I wonder how far I could get describing myself as a "supporter of free HDTV DLP front-projector televisions" . . .
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I suppose only a successful patent attorney could equate the frivolous software patents now plaguing the industry with a patent for "HDTV DLP front-projector televisions." Apart from the conscious or unconscious desire to protect your livelihood how do you rationalize the Orwellian nonsense that has given us patent-holding firms such as NTP and their ilk? These companies can't be flushed down the legal toilet quickly enough, IMHO.
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