Thank poland for not only once but twice blocking to vote the european software patent law. The open source community thanks you.
And what hase the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries to do with software patents?
The current text, opposed by open-source developers, economists and smaller businesses, is backed by many larger enterprises, who say they want the situation to be resolved as quickly as possible. Government bodies looking at implementing open-source software, such as the city of Munich in Germany, want the text to specifically ban software patents.
The EU's patent regime affects companies based elsewhere who want to obtain European versions of patents they already own, according to industry observers. "Companies might say, I got [a patent] from the U.S. PTO [Patent and Trademark Office], why can't I get one in Munich?" said Philpott of the U.K. Patent Office. "There are different criteria in Europe."
The current unenforceability of software patents also gives European software companies a competitive advantage over their U.S. counterparts, all sides agree. U.S. software companies routinely stockpile thousands of patents that are used mainly to defend themselves from patent lawsuits.
European software companies don't need to bother. The lack of software patent warfare also creates a less hostile environment for smaller software developers and open-source projects, which aren't in a position to accumulate large patent portfolios.
"It is a competitive advantage for the EU to not have patents on pure software, as long as they are there to protect real inventions," the EICTA's Baumann said.
Let me just say THANK YOU POLAND.
/me is interested to hear Larians opinion on this. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />
