[NUUG patent] "Apple faces patent lawsuit over iPod"

Knut Yrvin knuty at skolelinux.no
Sun Mar 6 15:05:29 CET 2005


søndag 06 mars 2005, 14:42, skrev Grethe Melby:
> Hmm. Ja. Kanskje det. Men er det noen her som har noen synspunkter på
> forholdet mellom patenter på den ene siden, og
> forretningshemmeligheter på den andre siden? Og videre, om en
> kopisperre - eller "et effektivt teknisk beskyttelsessystem" - i seg
> selv, er en forretningshemmelighet? 

Sakset fra en tekst fra intranettet til det Brittiske parlamentet: 

The draft Directive would allow the patenting of computer-implemented 
inventions provided they meet certain criteria; however some opponents 
are concerned that the plans will, in effect, enable the patenting of 
all software.

This has raised concerns as lobbyists argue that  software is a special 
case  and should not fall under-the same rules as other inventions:

---- indented text Here s why: before the 1986 clarification, the only 
things that could be patented were physical inventions. Drugs and oil 
rigs can be compared with others, and can thus be patented. You can t 
patent business plans or mathematical formulae, the rules to games, 
philosophical systems or religions. These are all abstract ideas, and 
are specifically excluded.

"Software is exactly the same as a business method in that you're
writing down a series of steps, and giving that to something to
execute... you're giving the series of steps to a machine to execute
instead of a person," says Alex Hudson, vice chairman of the UK's
Association for Free Software.  "It feels like a technical subject
but, at the end of the day, the generation of a piece of software is
very much like thinking up a game or a new business method, or any
other abstract idea."

The loophole that allows the software patents to be granted is the idea 
that the software code has a physical effect. If a program allows a 
machine to be more efficient, or a drug to be administered in a better 
way, or a previously unattainable effect to be achieved, then the 
software, proponents say, has what is called  technical effect . Hence, 
you can patent it. No one has clarified exactly how much of-an effect 
on how much of a machine a program must have. 

http://wiki.ffii.org/Ukparl050216En

- Knut



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