geeklawyer's Journal: European Software patents

I'm really in despair. this is going to happen and I suspect it is going to be bad. Either in the long or short term. And its really going to be a pain in the ass for Free software for at least two reasons: Free software writers are often more innovative and many ideas will pose a threat to solvent companies. these ay well choose to spend money crushing the Free competitor. Secondly, and relatedly, virtually all Free software authors are penniless, complaining on /. wont help much either, so in most cases they will just have to fold. There's a lot more to it than that and in truth it doesnt seem to happen too much in the US so I may be talking rubbish - I certainly hope so.

It's not like patents have much use: copyright and trademarks are genuinely useful but patents are a commercial legacy from a protectionist era. They should exist and all the arguments for them are at best unproven and mostly rubbish.

Of course I'm a hypocrite since many of my non-Free sftware clients are hoping to get them and I may be forced to draft them. Yech .
oh well life goes on, got to earn a living.