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Government consultationGovernment consultationPosted Oct 9, 2012 15:04 UTC (Tue) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784)In reply to: Patently stupid by amtota Parent article: The Patent, Used as a Sword (New York Times)
With regard to the patent/legal profession leeching from the people who actually create the wealth, I pointed this out to one of my MEPs very recently, noting that the patent/legal profession has nothing to lose through advocating the expansion of patents. Are any of these people out of pocket if the patents aren't upheld or are bad? Of course, not: it's all "win" and money in the bank. When someone has nothing to lose and can only profit from policy, the sensible thing is to stop asking them for advice about policy and to start asking the groups who actually stand to lose. Otherwise, the result is blatant profiteering, bordering on the corruption of the legislature. Interestingly, when lawmakers were pushing for software patents in the EU back in 2004 or so, the MEP I contacted previously gave a vague example of how patents on software helped an unnamed company license their "intellectual property" on the very topic of voice recognition. Maybe I should draw their attention to this article. Either way, I recommend that European voters contact their MEPs soon: once again, potentially damaging patent legislation masquerading as "reform" is being drafted, and the risk is that catastrophic self-regulation will be imposed in Europe without even the level of judicial and political scrutiny it has in the USA.
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