Software Patents and Copyright Laws Destroy Free Competition Essay

Software Patents and Copyright Laws Destroy Free Competition Introduction If Haydn had patented "a symphony, characterized by that sound is produced [ in extended sonata form ]", Mozart would have been in trouble. Patent - a writing securing to an inventor for a term of years the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention; or it may be the monopoly or right so granted[i]. The traditional rationale for patents is that protection of inventions will spur innovation and aid in the dissemination of information about technical advances. By prohibiting others from copying an invention, patents allow inventors to recoup their investment in development while at the same time revealing the workings of the new invention to the public. Absolute Monopoly - this is what it means! The people who have come up with the idea of protecting the innovation and so called rewards to the innovators never thought that what it may mean to the corporations and how it will kill the innovation in the software industry. As Stallman said â€Å"Software patents are a danger that affects all programmers and all computer users. I found out about them of course in working on Free Software because they are a danger to my project as well as to every other software project in the world.[ii]† I truly agree with Stallman’s view of the Patent. Now a day the number of patents is growing exponentially and due to open trade (software specially) internationally the patent law of one country is influencing the law in the other. Country like India where the software industry is growing at a tremendous pace and the US companies generate most of the business, people in India may advocate a law similar to US. Right now the state of the law is much stricter th... ... [i] Merriam-Webster online dictionary [ii] Stallman’s speech at Model Engineering College : The Danger of Software Patents [iii] Software Patent in US, Japan and Europe. [iv] Questions on software patentability in US and Europe. [v] NewsFactor Network (04/15/03); Brockmeier, Joe [vi] Sequential Innovation, Patents and Imitation [vii] New York Times, Sunday, December 14, 2003 [viii] NASSCOM, India. [ix] PCT Newsletter [x] Software Patent in India. [xi] MANUAL OF PATENT PRACTICE & PROCEDURE [xii] Salient Features of The Indian Patents [xiii] Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council [xiv] Linux Today – Boycott Amazon! [xv] Forbes [xvi] GNU – About Free Software [xvii] Software Patents [xviii] http://swpat.ffii.org/news/03/intel1211/index.en.html [xix] http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/knuth-to-pto.txt