On Mon, 2006-09-04 at 21:40 +0200, Hanno Böck wrote:
Now, from what I know, software patents aren't allowed in europe (that's why we were demonstrating in front of the european parliament last spring and succeeded).
That's not really true, unfortunately.
Per se, patents on software are not allowable. However, there is no bright-line test for "Is this a software patent?". So, if you can convince your patent office and/or a judge that your patent is not really about software, then you have an enforceable patent - even if others think it's a software patent.
I never got a really competent answer on why the mp3-patent seems to be valid in europe, so I hope anyone here has deeper knowledge.
mp3 is a slightly tricky area. There are a number of patents which cover mp3, over different aspects of the technology.
As an example of bad software patents, it's not necessarily that good - some aspects of the patents cover some very innovative technology and aren't really about software. Depending on which patent you're talking about (I can't read the article, I'm afraid!) it could be enforceable for a variety of reasons.
Cheers,
Alex.