Hi!

At Fri, 3 Jun 2005 23:41:53 +0900, Michal 'hramrach' Suchanek wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Jun 02, 2005 at 07:35:23AM +0900, John Carter wrote:
> 
>  - You only pay to get something patented, there is nobody opposing
>  patantability of trivial ideas.

In Germany it is unlawful to issue a patent for something that is a
new invention *and* can be turned into money. It is especially
prohibited by law to issue patents for software. That is not my
personal opinion but an (admittedly somewhat sloppy) translation of
what is written in the German Patentgesetz (patent law).

Presently the EU comission is trying to railroad a bill about what
they call "harmonization of patent laws" but that in fact is "an a
posteriori legalization of crimes" - they should rather punish those
who consiously violated laws and abused their power.

BTW: That is one of the reasons for my signature...

Josef 'Jupp' SCHUGT
-- 
"NO" to the European constitution means "YES" to democracy, not "NO"
to Europe - presently Europe as a whole is governed by a central
committee while the parliament only has very limited power.