[NBLUG/talk] Knoppix "closed"

[Cameron Tully-Smith]

Software patents mentioned at http://www.knoppix.org/ :

Closed because of "Software-Patents"
In the next few days, the European Parliament will decide about the
legalisation and adoption of so-called "software patents" in Europe, which
are already used by large companies in other countries to put competitors
out of business. This can lead to the termination of many software
projects such as KNOPPIX, at least within Europe, because the holders of
the over 30,000 already granted "software patents" (currently without a
legal foundation) can claim exclusive rights and collect license fees for
trivial things like "progress bars", "mouseclicks on online order forms",
"scrolling within a window" and similar. That way, software developers
will have to pay the "software-patentholders" for using these features,
even in their own, completely self-developed applications, which can
completely stall the development of innovative software for small and
medium companies. Apart from this, the expense for patent inquiries and
legal assistence is high, for even trying to find out if the
self-developed software is possibly violating "software-patents", if you
want to continue to market your software. Contrary to real patents,
"software-patents" are, in the current draft, monopolization of business
ideas and methods, even without any tangible technical implementation.



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