Software patents in Europe 1673

Perhaps they will.

I don't know whether you mean to, but you come across as very aggressive. The sentence above is a good example. Whilst I agree with much of what you're saying, I think perhaps the delivery might be a little too evangelical and zealous.

Well maybe, or maybe not. I think that there are several possible outcomes of this. I do not believe that either India or China will be dumb enough to agree to software patents, because it would damage their chances of competing with the US companies who've been making waves with software patents.

It's interesting to note that many, if not most, of the patent-related legal activity I've see so far has been small companies taking on larger ones. It's true to say, though, that the small companies have been granted silly patents.

I think that India, China and possibly Russia will become the next software power-houses, as they will not be bound by the patent rules. Therefore, I believe that software patents are not such a great threat to free software, indeed, I think it'll thrive. I do believe, however, that they will be terminally damaging to the EU economy. I've always been 100% pro-EU for the UK, but this event has actually turned my thinking around; I would not be unhappy if the UK were to leave the EU in order to avoid software patents.

-- Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk I'm defending her honour, which is more than she ever did.