On 28/03/2014 12:18, Wookey wrote: > +++ Adrien CLERC [2014-03-28 12:17 +0100]: > >> No one in Europe. There's no such thing as software patent here. Yet. I >> hope this will stay forever. >> (And yes, maybe I'm wrong, but please enlighten me!) > You are wrong. This is a common misconception, amongst geeks, but there > are thousands of software patents registered in Europe. It is quite a > lot harder to use them agressively than it is in the USA, as we don't > have anything quite a dumb as jury trials in East Marshall, but if you > follow, for example, the samsung/apple lawsuits round the world or case > law on microsoft's FAT patents, you will see some pretty bad stuff has > gone on here too.
Software patents in Europe is a mess: the understanding I have from IP lawyers is that (1) software patents have no legal standing in Europe. (2) The EPO continues to issue them. That is, people get "European Software Patents" on the basis that someday they may be worth something, and if you haven't patented / tried patenting your 'invention', someone else will. Can you point to actual case law of a software patent being upheld in Europe? (as opposed to member states) regards Alastair > Thinking that this problem is null here is very wrongheaded. It's just > significantly less awful than America, which isn't a very high bar to > pass. > > This is quite a good historical summary (depite being by an IP lawyer): > http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-mess-that-is-european-software.html > > And this is info we free software people will find informative: > http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Software_patents_exist_in_Europe,_mostly > > Wookey -- Alastair McKinstry, <alast...@sceal.ie>, <mckins...@debian.org>, https://diaspora.sceal.ie/u/amckinstry A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. ~Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/53356ecf.4080...@sceal.ie
