Compliance Toolkit

Story: Poles push patents off EU agenda

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This is a sad development for the small software developer. Patents do not give you the right to do anything - they give you the right to protect what you have spent time and money creating. It is wrong to assume that patents favour the big guys - it's the opposite way around. The big guys already have the financial muscle and the infrastructures to exploit new ideas in a patent free environment - they can already steamroller the little guys. They cannot steamroller the law: if a small company has a valid patent, big companies must (and do) respect that. Okay, the patent owner sometimes needs to go to court, but it is possible to take-out insurance to cover the legal fees. And a patent can be obtained for about the same cost as a full page advertisement in a trade magazine - not a lot really, when you consider that it buys you a complete monopoly.

As things stand, tens of thousands of computer-related patents are already granted each year. However, the current ambiguity makes getting them a complex and therefore expensive business - in other words the status quo favours the big guys in this way too. Clearer law will simplify things and reduce costs still further, thereby making it even easier for everyone to protect their assets.

Don't forget that patents have been around for centuries - the above comments are not conjecture - they are based upon well-established facts in other fields.

I feel sad when I see a lot of the stuff on the net about this, because there are an awful lot of people who are clamouring to tie a noose around their own neck. . .

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