RE: You have rights.. Software Patents are Ill egal

Christian Beauprez:
>proposals to extend patentability into data processing 
>place us in express violation of the WIPO Copyright Treaty

I don't agree with your logic.

Computer programs are subject to copyright, but that doesn't mean that the
function that they perform cannot be subject to patent. A blueprint of a
machine is subject to copyright, but the function that the machine performs
can still be patented. There is no real difference between translating a
computer program into an executable image in memory, and transforming a
design into a working machine. If I took someone else's drawing and made a
sculpture exactly like it, I would be violating their copyright. If it were
a working machine, they could protect it additionally with patents, so I
couldn't legally produce a workalike. I don't see that software is
fundamentally different.

My opinion is that the patent system is already broken, and adding more to
it isn't going to fix it, it's just going to extend the influence of a bad
system.

Good luck, though!

Phil Hibbs
Capgemini
Aston, UK
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