Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Software Patents and ACTA at STOA, Gates-backed Monsanto Wants to Own Mexico's Food Supply

Many Mexican flags



Summary: The rights of freelance/small developers are further abolished by big business and so-called 'trade' agreements; Mexican farmers too are at risk of becoming vassals of patent monsters

YESTERDAY we wrote about the sad state of European law, which is being 'massaged' by multinationals that want to protect monopolies with more patents and ACTA [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. The FFII has gotten a copy [WMV] of proceedings at STOA and its president reports that it covers "how to get software patents in Europe." He also adds: "ACTA [is] mentioned in length in the video recording of the STOA meeting in the European Parliament"



This is very troubling because TRIPS [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] inside ACTA is another enabler of patent colonialism.

Over in the UK, a developer has explained why software patents are highly undesirable. He writes to his MP and here is the beginning of the letter:

Dear Rob Wilson MP,

My accountants have drawn my attention to a little-noticed clause in the Chancellor's recent pre-budget statement that announces a measure (curiously named the "patent box") whose effect is to offer a reduced rate of corporation tax for profits deriving from patents. The stated intent is to encourage and reward innovation. As far as the software business (so important to the economy of your constituency) is concerned, the effect is likely to be exactly the opposite, and I would therefore like to encourage you to oppose it and to ensure that a Conservative government will not only reverse it, but move in the opposite direction.

First let me explain where I am coming from. After 25 years as a senior software engineer with ICL, I spent 3 years with the mid-size German company Software AG, and for the last six years I have been running my own one-man software company here in Reading. It's a successful small business, selling globally over the internet, and relying 100% on innovation: my competitors are companies like IBM and Intel. They have both produced products similar to mine this year, but 5 years behind.

Technically, UK and EU law disallows patents on software. However, the patent lawyers have found ways around that, and the current situation is that the patent offices are accepting applications that are software patents in all but name, and the courts are accepting them as valid.

The software business does not need incentives to innovate. If you don't innovate, you die.


As we pointed out a few weeks ago, Mexicans too are at risk of having software patents imposed on them by the multinationals and the monopolists. According to this, the Gates-backed Monsanto wants a monopoly on Mexican food as well. [via Richard Stallman]

Mexico doesn't have an adequate system to monitor or protect natural maize (corn) varieties from transgenes, say prominent scientists concerned about the experimental planting of genetically modified crops.

In the past month, Monsanto and Dow AgriSciences have received government permission to plant transgenic maize across 24 plots, covering a total of nearly 13 hectares, in the northern states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. The planting of transgenic maize had been prohibited for 11 years in Mexico, where maize was first domesticated.


This is a huge mistake! Monsanto is just trying to own their crops and their food, but people might not be made aware of it because über-lobbyist for Monsanto, Bill Gates, is monopolising/controlling communication about the subject [1, 2, 3]. Below we have added some more information about Monsanto.

  1. With Microsoft Monopoly in Check, Bill Gates Proceeds to Creating More Monopolies
  2. Gates-Backed Company Accused of Monopoly Abuse and Investigated
  3. How the Gates Foundation Privatises Africa
  4. Reader's Article: The Gates Foundation and Genetically-Modified Foods
  5. Monsanto: The Microsoft of Food
  6. Seeds of Doubt in Bill Gates Investments
  7. Gates Foundation Accused of Faking/Fabricating Data to Advance Political Goals
  8. More Dubious Practices from the Gates Foundation
  9. Video Transcript of Vandana Shiva on Insane Patents
  10. Explanation of What Bill Gates' Patent Investments Do to Developing World
  11. Black Friday Film: What the Bill Gates-Backed Monsanto Does to Animals, Farmers, Food, and Patent Systems
  12. Gates Foundation Looking to Destroy Kenya with Intellectual Monopolies
  13. Young Napoleon Comes to Africa and Told Off
  14. Bill Gates Takes His GMO Patent Investments/Experiments to India
  15. Gates/Microsoft Tax Dodge and Agriculture Monopoly Revisited
  16. Beyond the 'Public Relations'
  17. UK Intellectual Monopoly Office (UK-IPO) May be Breaking the Law
  18. “Boycott Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in China”


Recent Techrights' Posts

There's Nothing "Funny" About Attacking Free Speech and Software Freedom
persistent focus on the principal issues is very important
GNU/Linux Adoption in Africa, a Passageway Towards Freedom From Neo-Colonialism
Digi(tal)-Colonialism and/or Techolonialism are a thing. Can Africa flee the trap?
 
Links 05/12/2023: Microsoft's Chatbot as Health Hazard
Links for the day
Professor Eben Moglen Explained How Software Patent Threats Had Changed Around 2014 (Alice Case) and What Would Happen Till 2025
clip aged reasonably well
CNN Contributes to Demolition of the Open Web
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Eben Moglen on Encryption and Anonymity
The alternate net we need, and how we can build it ourselves
Yet More Microsofters Inside the Board of Mozilla (Which Has Just Outsourced Firefox Development to Microsoft's Proprietary Prison)
Do you want a browser controlled (and spied on) by such a company?
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 04, 2023
IRC logs for Monday, December 04, 2023
GNU/Linux Now Exceeds 3.6% Market Share on Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
things have changed for Windows in China
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Links 05/12/2023: Debt Brake in Germany and Layoffs at Condé Nast (Reddit, Wired, Ars Technica and More)
Links for the day
[Meme] Social Control Media Giants Shaping Debates on BSDs and GNU/Linux
listening to random people in Social Control Media
Reddit (Condé Nast), Which Has Another Round of Layoffs This Month, Incited People Against GNU/Linux Users (Divide and Rule, It's 2003 All Over Again!)
Does somebody (perhaps a third party) fan the flames?
Who Will Hold the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Accountable for Taking Bribes From Microsoft and Selling Out to Enable/Endorse Massive Copyright Infringement?
it does Microsoft advocacy
Using Gemini to Moan About Linux and Spread .NET
Toxic, acidic post in Gemini
Web Monopolist, Google, 'Pulls a Microsoft' by Hijacking/Overriding the Name of Competitor and Alternative to the Web
Gulag 'hijacking' 'Gemini'
Links 04/12/2023: Mass Layoffs at Spotify (Debt, Losses, Bubble) Once Again
Links for the day
ChatGPT Hype/Vapourware (and 'Bing') Has Failed, Google Maintains Dominance in Search
a growing mountain of debt and crises
[Meme] Every Real Paralegal Knows This
how copyright law works
Forging IRC Logs and Impersonating Professors: the Lengths to Which Anti-Free Software Militants Would Go
Impersonating people in IRC, too
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 03, 2023
IRC logs for Sunday, December 03, 2023
GNU/Linux Popularity Surging, So Why Did MakeUseOf Quit Covering It About 10 Days Ago?
It's particularly sad because some of the best articles about GNU/Linux came from that site, both technical articles and advocacy-centric pieces
Links 04/12/2023: COVID-19 Data Misused Again, Anti-Consumerism Activism
Links for the day
GNOME Foundation is in Reliable Hands (Executive Director)
Growing some good in one's garden
Links 03/12/2023: New 'Hey Hi' (AI) Vapouware and Palantir/NHS Collusion to Spy on Patients Comes Under Legal Challenge
Links for the day
'Confidential Computing'? More Like a Giant Back Door.
CacheWarp AMD CPU Attack Grants Root Access in Linux VMs
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 02, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, December 02, 2023
Links 03/12/2023: CRISPR as Patented Minefield, Lots of Greenwashing Abound
Links for the day