Comments on: Software Patents are Back: Software AG http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/07/06/software-patents-are-back-software-ag/ “equally critical of proprietary and open source myths, advocating software choice beyond marketing and romanticism” Wed, 23 May 2012 17:53:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Roberto Galoppini http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/07/06/software-patents-are-back-software-ag/comment-page-1/#comment-660594 Roberto Galoppini Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:47:59 +0000 http://robertogaloppini.net/?p=1447#comment-660594 Hi Dale, thank you to join the conversation. I see you're a patent attorney and an electrical engineer, I got a computer science degree and my background doesn't help me much when it comes to talk about electronic circuits. So said, I live in Europe and software patents are not (yet) legal on this side of the pond. Most of us are happy with that, given how little software patents are welcome by US IT entrepreneurs (see this <a href="http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/03/08/open-source-books-intellectual-property-and-open-source-by-van-lindberg/" rel="nofollow">book on intellectual property and open source</a> for more information). I understand that lawyers, or some of them, are in favour of software patents, but there is no evidence of how they helped innovation so far. Many IT companies, included the big ones, publicly stated how software patents mostly are causing damages, only few players take (real?) advantage of them in ritualized warfares, but this is definitely not about innovation. Hi Dale, thank you to join the conversation. I see you’re a patent attorney and an electrical engineer, I got a computer science degree and my background doesn’t help me much when it comes to talk about electronic circuits.

So said, I live in Europe and software patents are not (yet) legal on this side of the pond. Most of us are happy with that, given how little software patents are welcome by US IT entrepreneurs (see this book on intellectual property and open source for more information). I understand that lawyers, or some of them, are in favour of software patents, but there is no evidence of how they helped innovation so far. Many IT companies, included the big ones, publicly stated how software patents mostly are causing damages, only few players take (real?) advantage of them in ritualized warfares, but this is definitely not about innovation.

]]> By: Dale Halling http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/07/06/software-patents-are-back-software-ag/comment-page-1/#comment-660584 Dale Halling Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:39:12 +0000 http://robertogaloppini.net/?p=1447#comment-660584 The arguments against software patents have a fundamental flaw. As any electrical engineer knows, solutions to problems implemented in software can also be realized in hardware, i.e., electronic circuits. The main reason for choosing a software solution is the ease in implementing changes, the main reason for choosing a hardware solution is speed of processing. Therefore, a time critical solution is more likely to be implemented in hardware. While a solution that requires the ability to add features easily will be implemented in software. As a result, to be intellectually consistent those people against software patents also have to be against patents for electronic circuits. For more information on patents and innovation see www.hallingblog.com. The arguments against software patents have a fundamental flaw. As any electrical engineer knows, solutions to problems implemented in software can also be realized in hardware, i.e., electronic circuits. The main reason for choosing a software solution is the ease in implementing changes, the main reason for choosing a hardware solution is speed of processing. Therefore, a time critical solution is more likely to be implemented in hardware. While a solution that requires the ability to add features easily will be implemented in software. As a result, to be intellectually consistent those people against software patents also have to be against patents for electronic circuits. For more information on patents and innovation see http://www.hallingblog.com.

]]> By: Glyn Moody (glynmoody) 's status on Monday, 06-Jul-09 20:50:37 UTC - Identi.ca http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/07/06/software-patents-are-back-software-ag/comment-page-1/#comment-660497 Glyn Moody (glynmoody) 's status on Monday, 06-Jul-09 20:50:37 UTC - Identi.ca Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:50:55 +0000 http://robertogaloppini.net/?p=1447#comment-660497 [...] http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/07/06/software-patents-are-back-software-ag/ [...] [...] http://robertogaloppini.net/2009/07/06/software-patents-are-back-software-ag/ [...]

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