Patent lawyers
Most patent lawyers specialised in software make money from getting or litigating software patents, so they're biased toward saying that software is and should be patentable. Their financial interest was mentioned by Lord Justice Jacob said in the Aerotel ruling by UK Court of Appeal on 27 October 2006:
If the encouragement of patenting and of patent litigation as industries in themselves were a purpose of the patent system, then the case for construing the [exclusion] categories narrowly (and indeed for removing them) is made out.
Some lawyers can provide very important information about the technical aspects of the law. But there are also many patent lawyers who talk about software patents but actually have only a very shallow knowledge of the legal details of the case law of the courts and the patent offices, and how they differ between countries.
Contents
Support exceptionally high among patent lawyers
When the European Commission held its Consultation Paper on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions in 2000, 6% of replies were in favour of software patents, but among respondents who identified themselves as "IP professionals", that rate was 77%.
Mentality
This is just a quote from one patent attorney, but it may explain the mentality of many:
Whether anyone likes it or not, regardless of the outcome of Bilski at the Supreme Court software will remain patentable. Patent attorneys have always been at least one step ahead, and even if the Supreme Court tries to kill software patents we will figure out a way to characterize it so that it will be patentable.[1]
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Which sectors are for and against?
- Dan Ravicher - a patent lawyer that campaigns against software patents
- Clogging up the legal system
External links
- 2009-09-26: The Arguments For Patents for Business Methods and Software-Implemented Inventions, by "IP attorneys" Steven J. Henry and Eric L. Amundsen
- 2009: Software Patents in Ireland, by Barry Moore (Ogg audio)
- Sawyer Weighs In On Intellectual Ventures, February 2010, critical piece by Brad Feld and an unnamed patent lawyer friend
