Software patents not bad, says BSA
Updated 02:36am (Mla time) Oct 20, 2004
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net
SOFTWARE patents do not necessarily benefit bigger players, a
representative of the anti-piracy watchdog Business Software Alliance
told INQ7.net Tuesday.
"The issue of software patent, I think, is misunderstood. I myself am
puzzled why the open source community is against it," said Goh Seow
Hiong, newly named director of software policy for Business Software
Alliance in Asia.
Goh said software patent is good for software companies wanting to
protect intellectual property.
"However, BSA hopes that the methods of evaluation should be improved"
since some companies might abuse it," he added.
A Singapore-based firm developing open source-based business
applications had said that software patent is a bane to smaller
players wanting to break into the global software market.
"Software patents pose a threat to software development because they
raise the barrier to entry for smaller companies," said Stephan
February, chief technology officer of Adeptiva Linux during the
recently concluded IT Journo Forum in Indonesia.
February said that the US and the European governments are now pushing
software patent as part of bilateral trade agreements with third world
countries.
He said software patents only benefit big businesses.
Goh, however, said software patents benefit start-ups or small
companies more because it encourages innovation.
"The foundation of the software industry lies in protecting
intellectual property. Software patent is just one ideal albeit
stringent way to protect it. I have not heard of any good reasons to
oppose it. The debate on software patent is often rhetorical," the
official added.
He also debunked speculations that the United States and other Western
countries are behind the push for software patent in bilateral trade
agreements with third world countries.
"I think people opposing software patents are just twisting the
issue," Goh said.
The nature of software development involves developers adding to the
work of those that went before. Software patents usually cover
software development techniques.
--
RICARDO BAHAGUE JR
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Every valuable human being must be a radical and a rebel,
for what he must aim at is to make things better than they are ...
Neils Bohr, qouted in Nielson, pg. 27
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