Just take a look at what someone else argued on kuro5hin.org: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/9/93357/91614 /* Analogies (3.00 / 4) (#43) by Znork on Thu Mar 10th, 2005 at 09:25:58 AM EST
While literature is a common comparison, I think that legal arguments or contract clauses might be better suited to get the point across. Literature is so far from the software process that people often see software as very 'technical' in comparison, and as such dont understand the similarities. Contract clauses on the other hand usually each embody a specific legal idea (which could be patentable), where at the same time the expression itself could be covered by copyright. The legal industry is also similar to the computer industry, with the vast majority of employment being in services in the form of one-off work, by small consultancies or industry jobs, and with little investment needed to get started. As such, the legal industry would be adversely affected in the same ways as the computing industry. Legal arguments, like software, are often developed as the infrastructure (the laws) allow them to be made. Design processes where you need to help the customers conceptualize what they actually want also show similarities. Further, legal language is fairly strict in itself, which by extension may even lend itself to embodiment in formalized languages, and as such could by extension become patentable if software is considered patentable. So, constructing a well thought out analogy based on those similarities might make an even stronger case, especially to politicians who often have some tangential experience in law. Not to mention scare the bejeezus out of many lawyers once they realize that their jobs may also be threatened by unlimited patentability. Having to consult a lawyer and paying license fees (if you're allowed to use the patented arguments and clauses at all), not to mention the legal liability every time you help a client with a contract would be about as fun as it will be for programmers to do those things. */ Any comment from Nick Rout or others? Wesley Parish "Sharpened hands are happy hands. "Brim the tinfall with mirthful bands" - A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge "I me. Shape middled me. I would come out into hot!" I from the spicy that day was overcasked mockingly - it's a symbol of the other horizon. - emacs : meta x dissociated-press
