Europe Has Judges Weigh in on Software Patents

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2011-05-26 22:10:16 UTC
Modified: 2011-05-26 22:10:16 UTC

Importing failed systems?

Summary: The issue of software patentability is brought up again, despite the fact that Europeans (not European patent lawyers) have already decided that they do not want software parents

THE debate about software patents in Europe has been intense recently. Replying to a former MEP who is a lot more sane than the peanut gallery, the FFII stresses that "Software patents can indeed be used to stifle access for the blind to international copyrighted works, also DRM," adding that according to a patents booster:

Judges debate and fail to agree on diagnostic methods, business methods and computer software patentability at IPO Brussels conference

This is not something which we expected. Was this announced? Was it on the agenda? Why are they even faced with these issues? Europe does not want and does not need software patents, which continue to plague the United States and cause issues there -- issues that are well understood and thoroughly documented, even today. More patents bring more business to patent lawyers and judges, but they harm developers and customers everywhere. Monopoly does not encourage progress, it only hinders it. ⬆

Reboots Should Never be Necessary: "BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web: Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7: Links for the day
XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft: Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.: Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders: Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux: David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies: It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop: "I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month: Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025: IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg: Links for the day
Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc: OSI has been fairly quiet lately
Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence: Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People": Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs: It's so ridiculous
Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project: The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion: unlawful communications like threats
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots: Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like: What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False: Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals: Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff: Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish: We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More: Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype: Links for the day
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past: People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress": It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms: Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing: Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism: Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way: We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities: systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft: So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral": If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025: IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe: There are 67 left before reaching the target
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.: On behalf of violent men
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub": Links for the day
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone: people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago: That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs: We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX: Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China: Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense: Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water: Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality: Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us: This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels: Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025: And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on: Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care: Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC: Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles: Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025: IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025

Europe Has Judges Weigh in on Software Patents

Recent Techrights' Posts