On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 Frederick Noronha(FN) wrote :
"Software-Patents" in Europe: The threat prevails
Soon the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will >againdecide about the legalisation and adoption of so-called "software >patents" in Europe, which are already used by large companies in other >countries to put competitors out of business. This can lead to the >termination of manysoftware projects such as KNOPPIX, at least within >Europe,
<snip> This is very disturbing (again). But I am a little unclear on what the end result might be. Maybe Mahesh could clear up.
a) What's the status of India and Software Patents? b) Is Software Patent a geographical bounbdary bound thing? I mean would Klaus be able to host Knoppix on (say) an Indian server and distribute here? c) Would he be violating patents if he continues development? I mean would no EU citizen be able to contribute to FLOSS projects? d) How can people be so stupid as to grant patent on things that are so essential to computing?
I have gone through the docs at http://swpat.ffii.org/index.en.html but couldn't find ready answers to the questions I had. Answers in the form of text or URLs welcome.
Mayank
--- Mayank Sharma geekybodhi@rediffmail.com wrote:
On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 Frederick Noronha(FN) wrote :
"Software-Patents" in Europe: The threat prevails
Soon the European Parliament and the Council of
Ministers will >againdecide about the legalisation and adoption of so-called "software
patents" in Europe, which are already used by large
companies in other >countries to put competitors out of business. This can lead to the >termination of manysoftware projects such as KNOPPIX, at least within >Europe,
<snip> This is very disturbing (again). But I am a little unclear on what the end result might be. Maybe Mahesh could clear up.
a) What's the status of India and Software Patents? b) Is Software Patent a geographical bounbdary bound thing? I mean would Klaus be able to host Knoppix on (say) an Indian server and distribute here?
Mayank,The idea of Software Patent or related laws of other countries does seems to have their effects here,maybe its fear of laws/acts rather than wheather we are subjected to them.The recent PlayFair issue (thought they were different laws than pantent law) has given us a livid example.
The major question 'can we handle such legal problems here'.We don't have any EFF like organisation here.
I would like ask the two legal eagles on the list Pai and Ramanraj if we can remedy this.
TIA
--arky PS:BTW did anyone patent 'press the key to type' (as on keyboard) ?
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Rakesh 'arky' Ambati said on Tue, Oct 19, 2004 at 03:29:26PM -0700,:
Mayank,The idea of Software Patent or related laws of other countries does seems to have their effects here,maybe its fear of laws/acts rather than wheather we are subjected to them.
Guys, you are treading an area where even legal eagles would not dare!
You are on a subject, shorn of lawyerese, I will call, cross border enforcement of domestic laws. Generally, sovereign nations do not allow the laws of other countries to be enforced within their territories, but in the era of GATT, WTO and whatnot, this is a principle increasingly being compromised by developing nations at the instance of (under economic pressure from) developed nations.
We saw that when playfair issue came up. The Indian ISP was put under severe economic pressure, if I understand their (the ISP's) perspective correctly.
The major question 'can we handle such legal problems here'.We don't have any EFF like organisation here.
You already have the FSF-I. I believe that the present chairman is willing to take on more responsibilities than before.
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Mahesh T. Pai -
Mayank Sharma -
Rakesh 'arky' Ambati -
Rishi