[Fsf-friends] Update on Amendments to Patents Act
Ramanraj K
ramanraj.k@gmail.com
Wed Mar 16 20:42:29 IST 2005
Mahesh T. Pai wrote:
>Ramanraj K said on Wed, Mar 16, 2005 at 05:53:56AM +0530,:
>
> > <quote>
> > Cyber expert and Supreme Court advocate Pawan Duggal pointed out that in
> > the US, software itself is patentable.
>
>Which is only the half the truth.
>
>IIRC, it began when the US supreme Court directed the USPTO to grant a
>patent to a specific software hardware combination which controlled
>industrial production.
>
>By executive action, software patents are being granted. I recall
>reading on Groklaw that if the US Supreme Court reverses its position,
>all software patents would be void there.
>
>Unfortunately, no party to patent litigation in that country will
>raise a contention that software is not patentable, because that would
>be killing the goose that lays golden egges. A defendant in one case
>will be a plaintiff in another.
>
That is why the "WTO Legal System" exists, and India, along with other
countries opposing grant of patents for computer programs could complain
against the illegitimate practice before the WTO.
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