I heard a bit of rare good news on the patent front today - all 4 of the German parties have apparantly condemned software patents, which is promising considering the Germans have the largest number of politicians in the EU. Another anti-patent website was launched this week too, www.nosoftwarepatents.com that I like because it aims to explain the argument in clear, fairly unemotional business terms, and succeeds I think. I’m almost afraid to hope that the EU will ignore all the money-waving charlatans, but maybe, just maybe the suits are starting to listen to the population for once…
My favorite quote on this subject is from that ego-maniac Mr Gates himself:
““A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high: Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors.””
The thing is, he said this in 1991, when MS was a challenger rather than an incumbent. How your tune has changed now you’re the big guy, eh Bill?