Intellectual property Toolkit

Story: Patent nonsense: the case for unfettered development

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Freedom to use ideas in software without restriction was enshrined in the Patents Act 1977. Is there really such a shortage of ideas that a few large companies now need to be given monopoly rights to ideas which any competent programmer could think of for themselves? Where is the public interest in this restrictive practice?

I think the Patent Office, who are promoting the extension of patents into software, should be asked to give their estimate of the damage this will cause to the British economy. Giving a right to one person evevitably means that the legitimate interests of many others will be damaged.

The Patent Office say that their proposal would limit software patents to those that "make a technical contribution". They are holding meetings across the country in a couple of weeks time to try to find a definition of what this means. In my opinion this is nonsense. Patents should be limited to products where the manufacturer has to invest a significant ammount of money in the manufacturing process in order for the public to benefit from the idea. This is not the case with software.

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