Victims of Military abductions surfaced due to Writ of Amparo
Full text of the writ of Amparo can be found here

Printed copies available, email rbahaguejr [at] gmail [dot] com

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Software patents not bad, says BSA

BSA strikes again. this time their director is in a war unprepared.
-------------------------------------------------
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.

No comments: