"Software patents are a killer for the economy in the end". It's natural to be surprised at this statement when most major global and Indian information technology firms -- right from IBM, Microsoft, Sun to Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro -- speak of their patents and innovation in the same breath.
But, then, it's the 34-year-old Georg C F Greve that you're speaking to -- President of the Free Software Foundation, Europe -- whose sole mission is to make a strong case for "free software" and explain why 'software patents' should be anathema to society.
On his first trip to India, Greve surely has an idea of what he's speaking about. He has a classic scientific background as 'Diplom' Physicist and software development was part of his life since he was 12 years old. He says "there's no scientific study in the world to show that patents increase innovation. It's simply a way of locking the competition out".
He's makes a clear distinction between copyrights and patents. "Copyright refers to a concrete implementation, the concrete program, and the line of code. Whereas a patent always refers to an idea, to the principle, to the vague idea behind the program, and any program incorporates thousands, hundreds of thousands of such ideas sometimes,
he explains.
"There is no way anyone can get away from this truth. The only real issue for you is when you violate them (the software patents), will you be prosecuted, or are you big enough to resist this? As it turns out, only very few, very large players are big enough to resist this," he adds.
Patents on software are among the worst threats to knowledge-based industries, by restricting software development: they make computers less secure, less reliable and prevent competition on a basic level, he
opines.
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