Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why We Disagree With Peer to Patent's Approach

FOSS stamp



Summary: Why the strategy of reviewing software patents rather than tackle all of them through legislation only helps those who insist on legitimising them

THOSE who have read this site for while probably know that we do not endorse Peer to Patent. After some arguments over at Identi.ca [1, 2] it seemed reasonable to repeat an explanation that we gave here many times before, e.g. [1, 2, 3]. Glyn Moody explains that "it can't hurt if we squish a few software patents, can it?" He actually wrote a whole article in response to some of the latest developments in the UK-IPO. In it, Moody argues:



Anything that stops more bad patents being granted - particularly in the field of software - is to be welcomed. Once the site launches next week, you might want to take a look - and maybe even join in if you see something that deserves to be squelched. It's hard to say what impact this will have on the attempts to patent software, but it certainly can't hurt.


Our concern is that by giving attention to patent-busting schemes like those advocated by the EFF, Groklaw (currently run by Mark Webbink, who is very closely associated/affiliated with Peer to Patent) and other initiatives like Peer to Patent we take away from the efforts of those who strive to abolish all software patents at once. There are some companies out there which are still patenting 3-D maths and these patents might be harder to invalidate. They harm real science, including the field that I work in. In Europe we do not formally have software patents and it is important to keep it that way. The FFII warns about [1, 2] the latest schemes of Barnier, whom we wrote about in many older posts. There are people inside Europe -- people with a lot of power -- who work hard to bring software patents (importing them from the USPTO for example). They need to be stopped urgently. To start gardening the UK-IPO's monopolies arsenal with Peer to Patent is not good use of time and effort.

"To really abolish software patents, embrace the campaigns of the FFII, the FSF, ESP, and the FSFE."All the efforts to abolish software patents might in some sense be complementary, but we advise people to work 100% against software patents, not legitimise them with the OIN or with Peer to Patent (to whom the issue is the quality of patents, not software patents in general). Those latter two groups help the agenda of companies like IBM, but they do not do enough to help small companies and individuals without an employer boasting a warchest of around 50,000 patents. To really abolish software patents, embrace the campaigns of the FFII, the FSF, ESP, and the FSFE. Being a conformist does not help much.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists"

Recent Techrights' Posts

Windows is an Unnatural Disaster, It is Also Avoidable
there's a wide window of opportunity opening
Killing the News With Spam and Slop Benefits Those Whose Desire is an Uninformed Population
adoption of Free software depends indirectly on political activities/activism
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: An Introduction
Perhaps tomorrow or perhaps next week we'll share more information about what happened and what was reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency
IBM's BS (Bait, Switch) Regarding Ways to Stay Onboard
PIPs, RTOs, and forced relocations are just an illusion of choice (or ability to recover)
Banned evidence: Ars Technica forums censored email predicting DebConf23 death, Abraham Raji & Debian cover-up
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Links 30/03/2025: "Quantum Randomness" and "F-1 Visa Revoked" in US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: US as a Threat, Returning to the WWW
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: Judge Blocks Dismantling Of VOA, Turkey Arrested Many Journalists
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 29, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 29, 2025
Judges Would Never Rule for Men Who Strangle Women or Against Women Who Merely Wrote Articles About Abuse They Had Received From Men
We don't intend to do "trial by media", so we won't be disclosing claims and defences until it's over
Gemini Links 29/03/2025: Less YouTube and More Station
Links for the day
In Some Countries, Such as Thailand, Firefox is Already Measured at Less Than 2% (One Day Firefox Will Get Blocked, Not Only Lack Support)
Web consolidation around Chrom-isms will doom the Web as we know it
Links 29/03/2025: Trademarks Battles, Fires Destroy More Than 3,000 South Korean Homes
Links for the day
Links 29/03/2025: More Crackdowns on Science, "Hey Hi" Slopping is Flopping
Links for the day
Costa Rica Almost Bankrupt Because of Microsoft
the incidents in Costa Rica are Windows incidents
Gemini Links 29/03/2025: Art of Looking, Wireguard, EMacs
Links for the day
Links 29/03/2025: Attacks on Social Security and War Updates
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 28, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, March 28, 2025
Intimidation, Threats, and Bullying Not Tolerated by Techrights
When it comes to our reporting, safety always comes first
A World Without Rules
We're long insisted on better laws and actual enforcement of them (applicable to all, not selectively applied)
statCounter Sees Microsoft Windows Falling to New, Unprecedented Lows in Palau
Taking Android into account, Windows is now down to an all-time low of 14%
Google News Lost the Fight to LLM Slop (While Google Itself Sells Slop, Nowadays Under the Name "Gemini")
Many people say that "Google is getting worse"; that's almost an understatement
Links 28/03/2025: AirAsia Trouble Again, UMich Culls All DEI Programs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/03/2025: Alexa is for Gullible People, Rant About Feature Overload
Links for the day
The SLAPPs From the Microsoft Strangler (and Sidekick) No Better Than Patent Trolling
one must never settle with trolls
Something to Celebrate in Gemini Protocol
More capsules and users join in
Links 28/03/2025: Last Reminder "to Delete Your 23andMe Data", "UK's First Permanent Facial Recognition Cameras Installed"
Links for the day
Microsoft Canonical Continues Its FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) Campaign, Reveals Google Too Sponsored It
They're paid-for lies from a Chinese company that takes GAFAM money to write puff pieces about them
Android Rises Above 76% in Mozambique, Leaving Windows in the Dust
Windows may soon be measured as smaller than Apple's iOS
IBM, Red Hat and Microsoft Probably Also Manipulate Metrics (It Helps Con the Shareholders)
Wall Street's credibility will depend on enforcement of "checks and balances"
Slopwatch: trendhunter.com and Other Pure Junk From "Google News"
The need to vet sources is hardly new; anyone can spew out anything, anywhere. There's a need for vetting.
Gemini Links 28/03/2025: Rewatching The X-Files, Slop Concerns, and NOSTR Censorship
Links for the day
Links 28/03/2025: Australia at Risk, EPO Grants Illegal Patents With Illegal Effect
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 27, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, March 27, 2025