[Fsfe-uk] Cambridge swpat

[MJ Ray]

This is a somewhat belated summary of a meeting held in Cambridge on
5 June at CB2, relocated from the Free Press.  As always, it is only
my perspective.  If you were there, I'd love you to post your comments.

The organiser was Jeff Veitch.  Unusually for this topic, there were
people present with a wide range of views, both for and against these
patents.

First, Philip Martin of Marks and Clerk presented the current situation
and described what the proposal was supposed to achieve.  Then the
specifics of the proposal were stated with examples and the results of
the consultations were stated.  Finally, examples from around the world
were given for comparison.  The main points that I took from this was
the themes of "economic majority" and the difference between the aim
and possible consequences of the implementation.

Next, Wookey from Aleph1 spoke about why software patents are a
terrible idea.  Themes covered included the scope of patents, the
supposed properties of patents and the absurdity of the proposed length.
There was a lively and sometimes under-controlled question session which
seemed to be full of pro-patents questioners.  Alex Macfie of FFII.org.UK
redressed the balance a bit, but seemed clearly frustrated at not being
able to speak earlier.

Finally, Tony Robinson of Softsound spoke in favour of software patents,
as a holder of two software patents.  He seemed to advocate them as a way
of quantifying a SME's contribution to technology, while protecting it
as a sort of trade secret.  (I don't pretend to understand this: patent
supporters normally claim them as a way to avoid use of trade secrets.)
His firm did this to obtain capital investment.  Later questions from
the floor asked whether they used software patents as a proxy for "due
diligence" and whether they would sue a large infringer.  Answers:
yes and no, probably.

After the talks, there was supposed to be directed discussion, but as
far as I can tell, that did not happen before I left at 2230 to catch
the last train.  I know that others from this list were there, so maybe
they can tell me about that.

A few days later, with a very short time to comment (I was away and unable
to answer in the time), a biased summary of the meeting was sent to the
East of England MEPs.  Another reason why you must make your voice heard
if you oppose these software patents.

-- 
MJR/slef   My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know.
      http://mjr.towers.org.uk/   jabber://address@hidden
Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/
       Thought: "Changeset algebra is really difficult."