1. Why is there not more public debat about the european law on software patents. If i understand the message correctly all open source software will be patented if the law is accepted. This means that we will have to pay for using linux, apache, tomcat, php and mmbase in the near future?
It is not directly Open Source related. The point is that people can patent simple software routines (such as the idea of a cursor, a hyperlink, a 'shopping cart', etc), and thus fine others that use similar routines. This emans that those who have the patents (mostly big corps) can use others that develop software - even if the software is not remotely similar. This may prevent people from writing new software, because they may face lengthy and expensive court cases.
A product such as MMBase can be amde impossible to work on, but the same holds for EVERY software product: including commercial ones, personalized software, websites, etc.
The problem is better illustrated in this link (in dutch):
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/DutchPatentExamples
-- Pierre van Rooden Mediapark, C 107 tel. +31 (0)35 6772815 "Never summon anything bigger than your head."
