LWN: Comments on "Interview: Ciaran O'Riordan of End Software Patents"

Who's running for PP?

job — 2009-03-15T20:30:33+00:00

Christian Engström. They enjoy a wide support among very young people (some too young to vote), but with the torrent page trial it's not entirely unrealistic that they may get enough votes to get him in. I just hope the fact that these two digital rights activists run for what some may consider controversial parties does not harm sympathizers elsewhere.

Who's running for PP?

coriordan — 2009-03-15T19:18:05+00:00

Who's the anti-swpat candidate running for PP?

Erik Josefsson getting elected (with V) would really help sensible tech law policy in the EU.

Software Patents' Not Dead

job — 2009-03-15T16:42:27+00:00

It's great to put the spotlight on software patents and the people who keep working against them. Sooner or later software patents will rear its ugly head again. In the meantime organisations such as EFF and FSF(E) needs our support!

Here in Sweden the upcoming European Parliament election will feature no less than two tireless software patent activists (for v and pp). This fight needs to be fought on all fronts, so make sure you know where your parliament candidate stands.

Interview: Ciaran O'Riordan of End Software Patents

coriordan — 2009-03-13T15:52:47+00:00

That's the consultation mentioned in the 2nd last paragraph. If I had an alarm bell, I'd ring it, but the networks of yesteryear aren't so active :-/

One of the hurdles to getting active again is the amount of searching required to get the current status of things.

I'm going to work on an ESP submission for this, but in contrast to most previous work, I'm going to do it in a way that it contributes to a general information resource to help others get active and effective as quickly as possible, in whatever country, for whatever alarm.

And they can be reinstated

man_ls — 2009-03-12T19:22:19+00:00

Not to mention that invalidated patents can be reinstated if the holder ~~bribes~~ greases the patent system.

Interview: Ciaran O'Riordan of End Software Patents

k3ninho — 2009-03-12T16:37:38+00:00

I was expecting a mention of the present referral to the Enlarged Board of the EPO concerning Computer Implemented Inventions. The president of the EPO has asked the highest precedent-setting review panel of the EPO to state where the standard is for patents which involve computer systems, and there is a window for interested parties to provide observations. The window closes at the end of April.

See: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2009/01/g-308-have-your-say....

No, invalidating specific software patents doesn't solve the problem

dwheeler — 2009-03-12T14:28:11+00:00

No, invalidating specific software patents doesn't solve the real problem. Patents have been invalidated in areas where there is little controversy that patents apply, and the patent system continues to exist. Indeed, the patent system presumes occasional invalidation; there's even a process for it.

Invalidating specific software patents is a good thing to do, and in some cases is absolutely necessary, until software patents are finally expunged.

Such a case could be used to open the wider debate. The one used to do so should be so egregious that even non-technical judges can understand the problem, though; if there are too many technical details, the details could be easily used by a pro-patent lawyer to hide the real issues. For software patents to be eliminated, the judges will have to clearly understand the issues.

Interview: Ciaran O'Riordan of End Software Patents

michaeljt — 2009-03-12T09:25:50+00:00

I know that it is a bit of a different track, but wouldn't an easier track to getting an existing patent disqualified by prior art (I understand that this is currently phenomenally expensive) also do a lot to solve the software patent problem? There never seems to be a lack of prior art for problematic software patents.