I've just made this:
http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/SwpatMepPositions
Many of us have info gathering dust in our inboxes, and if we can put it
together on a wiki page, that'd be great.
I have a meeting this week with Sinn Fein's swpats policy person, so that'll
be more info to add, and I'll have a rake around my inbox too.
--
Ciarán O'Riordan,
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/http://fsfe.org/Members/ciaran
(My email address has changed from @member.fsf.org to @fsfe.org)
Tomorrow is the third Tuesday of the month, so IFSO will be holding its
usual monthly meeting at 2000h in Mahaffey's Pub:
http://www.ifso.ie/get-involved.html#meetings
The meeting will almost certainly focus on organising our lobbying for the
software patents directive. This is coming up soon, so we have to get
our act together.
Note that meetings are open to members and non-members alike.
Good luck,
Malcohol.
_________________________________________________________________
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On the EP calendar[0], yellow means "Constituency" time, which is when the
MEPs are in their home nations.
This week (16th to 20th) is Constituency time, so if any individual or SME
wants to talk to an MEP without coming to Brussels or Strasbourg, this week
it's possible.
(Gentry is right to be thinking in terms of "54 days left", time to get very
active again.)
[0] http://www.europarl.eu.int/plenary/cal2005_en.pdf
--
Ciarán O'Riordan,
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/http://fsfe.org/Members/ciaran
(My email address has changed from @member.fsf.org to @fsfe.org)
"Wikimania" and will take place from August 4-8
this year in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). It will be the
first international conference of the Wikimedia Foundation,
which runs Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikinews and other free
content projects.
See
http://wikimania.wikimedia.org/
for more information.
Hi all,
Two more articles in 4 May's ACM TechNews discuss software patents.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: TechNews <technews(a)HQ.ACM.ORG>
> Date: 4 May, 2005 19:44:52 GMT+01:00
> To: TECHNEWS(a)LISTSERV.ACM.ORG
> Subject: ACM TechNews - Wednesday, May 4, 2005
>
> Read the TechNews Online at: http://www.acm.org/technews/
> Current Issue: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html
> ACM TechNews
> May 4, 2005
>
> Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:
>
> Welcome to the May 4, 2005 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely
> information for IT professionals three times a week. For
> instructions on how to unsubscribe from this service, please see
> below.
>
...snip...
> "Patent Litigation Worries Tech Industry"
>
> Government and tech industry representatives urged legislators to
> institute patent system reforms at a recent hearing of the Senate
> Judiciary Committee's Intellectual Property subcommittee. Reforms are
> needed as a way to rein in "patent trolls" that obtain patent rights
> and sue other ...
Summary at
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2005-7/0504w.html#item5
full article at
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=0030000026MU
This article focuses on recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary
Committee's Intellectual Property subcommittee by many parties.
An interesting bit from the USPTO Director:
> "Today," Dudas told senators, "economic success depends increasingly
> on intangible, information-based assets, such as the creativity of
> employees and the knowledge gained from research. As a result
> intellectual property-based industries such as biotechnology and
> entertainment now represent the largest single sector of the U.S.
> economy. In fact, IP industries export more American value to the
> world than the automobile, automobile parts, agricultural, and
> aircraft industries combined."
I was somewhat encouraged by David Simon's testimony (!). He is the
chief patent counsel of the BSA:
> "Too many of these (patent litigation lawsuits) are filed in search of
> a quick buck through settlement negotiations, rather than a party
> legitimately asserting a right, because the infringer is interfering
> with commercial objectives," Simon said.
>
> He suggested to help reduce patent litigation disruptions, Congress
> should not allow the imposition of triple punitive damages -- which
> current law permits -- unless there is evidence of willful
> infringement. Congress also should make sure the courts assess damages
> based only on the value of the patented component, not the whole
> product -- "the cup holder and not the car," he said.
Another interesting article is the following:
> "Patents: Cuffing Innovation?"
>
> Forrester Research consultant Navi Radjou says patents are a critical
> incentive for technological advancement, but acknowledges that they
> can also impede innovation if they stifle the creativity of others;
> defining an invention's patentability is therefore a major challenge.
> Though patents ...
Summary at
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2005-7/0504w.html#item17
full article at
http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/10192/10192.html
Some interesting bits:
> But a survey sponsored by the Lemelson-MIT Program found that most
> filed patents have little commercial value. (The Lemelson-MIT Program,
> which began in 1994, was established to raise the stature of inventors
> and to inspire invention and innovation among young people.)
>
> For instance, patents filed by European researchers have increased 10%
> per year since the late 1990s. Yet less than 10% of those patents have
> commercial importance, and less than 1% have seminal importance.
This is a fairly balanced and reasonably well-informed article, with
discussions about problems with the USPTO, patent trolls,
cross-licensing, quotes from the president of the IEEE-USA, and the
inverse relationship between the health of the technology sector and
the willingness to litigate over patents.
Joe
---
Joseph R. Kiniry
Dept. of Computer Science, University College Dublin
http://secure.ucd.ie/