🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <dhayes-0901952206180001@dal24.onramp.net>,
          dhayes@onramp.net (David Hayes) wrote:

> In article <19950109.204722.59@banana.demon.co.uk>,
> kevq@banana.demon.co.uk wrote:
> > > In general, I strongly oppose software patents, and see them as
> > > extremely harmful for the entire computer industry.
> > This is wild speculation, at best.  A case can be made for patents;
> > especially on the grounds that companies are more likely to invest in
> > developing new techniques and algorithms if they see profit from it.
> > This means getting paid for the ideas generated, which function is
> > normally performed by patents.
>
> Not so in all fields. Computer science springs to mind. Up until about
> 1980, very little software was patented. The United States built a
> software industry that still dominates the world on the strength of
> copyright, not patents.

Possibly, but that does nothing to uphold the opinion expressed by
Tatu Ylonen (ylo@cs.hut.fi), which asserted without support that
patents are "extremely harmful for the entire computer industry".

The relative merits of Copyright and Patents are a completely different
issue.  I doubt that it's even possible to use copyright effectively
on algorithms.

I don't see why the computing industry is different from any other in
respect of patents, really.  A pharmaceutical company spends millions
on developing new drugs, and relies on patents to ensure that they
can recoup the investment.  Similarly companies which develop new
algorithms should be able to protect their investment.

I'm not au fait with the position of the FSF, but I would guess that
even they would agree that a company should be able to recoup its
investment, otherwise companies would be far more reluctant to make
the investment in the first place, which certainly isn't to the good
of the industry.  Patents are a useful mechanism for safeguarding
this type of investment, when used effectively.

--
Kevin F. Quinn            *  "Two things must ye know of the Wise Woman.
kevq@banana.demon.co.uk   *  First, she is ... a Woman!  Second, she is..."
kevq@cix.compulink.co.uk  *  "Wise?"  "You know her then?  "No, just a wild
Compu$erve: 100025,1525   *  stab in the dark, which incidentally is what
*  you'll be getting if you don't start being a bit more helpful!"   (BA II)
... Modem, said the gardener when he'd finished the lawn..