[Fsfe-uk] Patented videoshop opens in Wales

[James Heald]

Fwd from  fsfe-uk

Crossposting to try to keep all 3 lists in touch.


Kevin Donnely (kevin at dotmon.com) writes:

> I have put up a tidied-up version of the translation at http://www.dotmon.com.  
> There is also a download link for the materials used on the page, in case 
> anyone wants to make further changes.
>
> The screenshot is not ideal, and I may redo it (and also the page in Welsh) if 
> I have time.
>
> Is it worth trying to contact people like the Small Business Federation 
> locally to bring their attention to this?
>
> I do have to say that I see some difficulty with 3 of the items mentioned: I 
> think the response of most people to patents on gifs, mp3s and mpeg4s will be 
> "somebody did some work to create these, and you're using them, so it's 
> reasonable to pay".  In my view, these are of a different character to things 
> like tabbed browsing, or paying by credit card over the internet, or a 
> shopping trolley, all of which are analogues of real-world things.  I 
> recognise the issues with the compression technology (significantly, in at 
> least  two cases (png and ogg) there are free alternatives) - it's just that 
> I think there would be a better response if we focus on the really loony 
> ones.