Re: [free-software-melb] Excluding free software from patentability

2012-02-13 Thread Ben Sturmfels
On 13/02/12 12:45, Matt Giuca wrote: Having a shorter copyright term, but keeping the long term for free software would mean that the above clause is no longer true. In this world, I would have certain freedoms with proprietary software that I would not have with GPL software. For example, I

Re: [free-software-melb] Excluding free software from patentability

2012-02-13 Thread Matt Giuca
The goal of free software is freedom for people who *use* software. To claim that the ability to restrict other people with proprietary software is a freedom is twisted logic indeed. But that is a freedom. This comes to the double-edged idea that freedom cannot be absolute: if I have