Comments | waider: legalities

waider

legalities

Apr 20, 2005 01:03

One of my readers (hi mopti!) will be delighted to know I’m currently poring over documents relating to software patents and related issues in the EU. Said reader has been providing huge assistance to my attempts to put together a coherent letter to the undecided MEPs in my area in order to persuade them not to legislate me out of a job, and probably is ( Read more... )

reverse-engineering, politics, patents, e.u.

Comments 12

anonymous April 20 2005, 00:46:42 UTC

Have you read Stallman's book? He is a kook, but he makes a strong arguement re: patents.

bitpuddle April 20 2005, 01:13:57 UTC

Uh..that was me. I posted from my PalmPilot while picking up some Shish Kebob. I'm not sure why it went anon.

eejitalmuppet April 20 2005, 06:47:23 UTC

That'd be the effect of the chili sauce.

waider April 20 2005, 08:04:10 UTC

I've not read him; is the strong argument for or against patents? As I've said to mopti, I'm not blindly opposed to patents myself, but the current proposed directive is a bit, well, loose in how it defines what can and can't be patented, and that's exactly what it's supposed to be fixing up - currently, the arbiter of patentability is the European Patent Office, and they've been drifting towards granting general software and "business method" patents despite the fact that these are pretty much explicitly prohibited by existing European law.

Thread 6

Ohh, I'm not peeved mopti April 20 2005, 15:02:51 UTC

Fame -- named at last in a Livejournal.

This assistance has been /most/ geeky. I can imagine waider explaining this to his mother or father: "Yes, dear, I know we have a son who's into software engineering and I can never understand it though I do nod my head from time to time in an encouraging way. But it's just become seriously worse. Now he taken to studying patent law . And even worse, he's studying EU legislative procedures

geek^3

Re: Ohh, I'm not peeved waider April 20 2005, 15:25:19 UTC

Well, you've put in a lot of effort to dig stuff up for me and proofread my inane ramblings, and you should know it's appreciated even if I do get dist.. hoo boy. What a SHINY object! I wonder what it is...

Re: Ohh, I'm not peeved mopti April 20 2005, 18:10:24 UTC

Damn. My faux HTML mark signalling hushed voice and even more hushed voice was editied out.

What a directive mopti April 20 2005, 20:48:01 UTC

Directive 91/250/EEC Articles 5 and 6 specifically authorise me to reverse-engineer software The legislators wrote in articles specifically authorise waider?? Now that's foresight :)

Re: What a directive waider April 20 2005, 20:49:59 UTC

Dude. You SO need to proofread before posting :)

Bright Shiny Objects waidesworld April 27 2005, 00:07:21 UTC

Waider has a tendency to go on, it is a family thing and the problem is that you lose the plot for all the detail you have. A term of losing the tree in the woods comes to mind.

Surely in your worldly travels you have done a favor for a legal friend who may be able to interpret this for what it means, as opposed to what it says.

When the legal shitbox starts I am completely illiterate on that stuff. Legalese is a very difficult language for engineers to fathom. For a start they use no ones and zeros.