Canceling Software Copyrights?
Attorney and consultant Greg Aharonian has sued the U.S. Attorney General in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, claiming that software should not be copyrighted. Does he have a case?
Software patents, which are by the thousands annually in the United States, continue to be the subject of heated disputes in Europe. The nations of Europe currently don’t issue patents on software, but they face continued pressure to follow the U.S. model and permit them.
In November, Linus Torvalds added his name to a letter addressed to the European Union Competitiveness Council, which is currently working on a “software patent directive.” Torvalds, along with MySQL founder Monty Widenius and PHP creator Rasmus Lerdorf, argue in their letter that software patents are unwise and will burden economic opportunities in Europe. As rationales, the three cite not only the likelihood of software patents stifling innovation in general, but also the prohibitive cost of obtaining the protection offered by a software patent. According to their figures, prosecuting a patent costs 30,000 to 50,000 Euros (that’s about$ 40,000 to$ 66,000 at the current exchange rate), far too much money for most individuals.
U.S. attorneys typically quote a figure of about$ 20,000 (and two to four years) to obtain a software patent. But it’s also important to remember that, despite treaties that make the process more manageable, a patent must be obtained in each and every country where the inventor wants protection. Patenting a device only in the U.S. leaves manufacturers and consumers in the rest of the world free to make and sell what you have invented.$ 20,000 is just the “entry” fee.
