One Step Close to Cracking Down on Software Patents in America?
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2007-10-06 18:58:52 UTC
Modified: 2007-10-06 18:58:52 UTC
It appears as though software patents' almost-identical twin, namely business methods patents, has just lost a tooth.
Ruling May Make It Harder to Protect Business Methods
A federal appeals court has issued a ruling that may make it more difficult to obtain and enforce so-called business-method patents, which are granted for abstract processes rather than specific devices. Legal experts say the decision could help financial-services and software companies facing a barrage of patent-infringement litigation brought by patent holders.
Patents pertaining to business methods are forbidden here in the United Kingdom. The same goes for software patents, which can be virtually ignored. However, looking elsewhere as well, some people (including and even notably Microsoft) seem to be finding workarounds, which is violation of the law, at least in South Africa.
Yesterday we read that it was quite cruel how IBM (or Red Hat) compelled staff to pretend to be happily leaving or "retiring" when the reality was, they had been pushed out with some "package"
If patent law had been applied to novels in the 1880s, great books would not have been written. If the EU applies it to software, every computer user will be restricted, says Richard Stallman
So the real extent of layoffs is greater than what's publicly stated (there are silent layoffs) [...] Whatever IBM says about the scope, scale, or magnitude of the "RAs", it doesn't tell the full story
This is a real problem and most certainly a big problem because when people try to find real information about security and GNU/Linux they instead read "word salads" made by bots
