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read moreStallman gets it right on patents
Sam Varghese
Friday, 22 September 2006 07:02
While his views are that of a purist, he is correct about the half-measures. Last year an unrelenting battle was waged by some developers to prevent the European Parliament from passing a directive that would have legitimised software patents in Europe. One of the reasons attributed for the success was the fact that they took a stand and never budged.
(The patent issue is now reaing its head again in Europe again with Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, getting set to speak in favour of a measure called the European Patent Litigation Agreement which, detractors say, will take the debate about patents out of the hands of European parliamentarians.)
Frivolous patents are filed by the hour in the US and possibly a little less frequently in other countries; in a bid to get rich quick and with as little effort as possible, companies have tried to patent most things under the sun. The USPTO has, for its part, granted plenty of silly patents. The Australian patent authorities are not far behind.
Most patent suits end up in out-of-court settlements with the party which was seemingly trying to enforce a patent more than willing to cut a deal if the sum is right. The lawyers involved find it one of their best income streams.
Stallman is right to take up the fight - despite the fact that many people call him an oddball in this day and age, one has to always bear in mind that if he had not started the GNU Project in 1984 and the FSF a year later, and stuck to his guns, there would be no widespread use of either free or open source software. And many of us really wouldn't be where we are today.
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