I’ve been meaning to post something about the EU software patent decision since it was announced a day or so ago but haven’t go around to it. For anyone who considers themselves a nerd and hasn’t managed to hear about this, the European Union voted down (by a considerable margin) a bill to introduce software patents across Europe. If you need some more background on it take a look at this

First off let me start by saying software patents are evil. Sure, many things in the tech world, for example open source code, I consider to be a virtuous thing, but I can usually see 1 or 2 exceptions to the rule. Cases where maybe they aren’t the best way to go. This, however, simply doesn’t apply to software patents. They serve big companies and big companies alone. They stifle innovation and put a dark legal cloud over smaller software companies.

The decision is a good one and I’m surprised by the margin that it was passed through with. It does not however mean that ‘we’ are out of the woods. Whilst there will now be no law for software patents across the whole of Europe, this decision allows for individual countries to make up their own minds about whether or not to allow these trivial patents. You might think that if countries all voted this down in the EU then they will do a similar thing individually but I don’t think its that easy. Something tells me that this ‘victory’ had a lot to do with some large companies turning sour on the EU bill after a number of amendments (~140) were made to it. These same companies will still be pushing for software patents in each country and now because there is no one unified front, I fear that the it will become a non-issue in many of these countries, not enjoying the same level of opposition or debate.

The more I read about software patents, the more they look like a dream come true for large companies seeking a monopoly for themselves. I actually find myself getting angry when I hear about them and the harm that they have/will cause/d. Sure they may not sound like something worth fighting for now, especially not to someone outside of the technology community, but I really think that I can see myself trying to do something good in this area, be it in either a professional or hobby capacity.

I’ll end this entry by saying that I still firmly believe that the best way to conqueur this world would be to take out a patent on the idea of patenting something. After that its game over.