Re: [Fsfe-uk] BBC Article about Linux SCO and Copyrights - BBC calls for statements (fwd)

[Ramanan Selvaratnam]

Ramanan Selvaratnam wrote:
> MJ Ray wrote:
>
> >  From address@hidden, a pointer to 
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3191281.stm
>
>
> Miles away from the single mention of IBM ...
>
> 'SCO are claiming that some programmers took code which SCO owned and 
> released it illegally under the GPL.'
>
> Some programmers?
>
> How convenient not to mention that in the '30 million lines of code' 
> there are direct contributions by SCO developers under the GPL?
>
> What about IBM's countersuit against SCO for GPL violation?

Ah! Just saw this! I was not aware that IBM struck back with WMD  (the 
article is not clear enought on this)

http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020505,39116012,00.htm
'First, filing a patent application (in the US) can take anywhere 
between $15,000 and $25,000, which isn't within reach of many small 
businesses. Second, costs associated with defending against patent 
assaults dwarf the aforementioned application fees, making patents an 
expensive prospect.'


A clear contemporary revelation of the dangers of a software patent regime?


> SCO's claims and badly written articles apart does anyone get the 
> feeling that this dispute prooves that copyright law is sufficient to 
> protect software unlike what Arlene McArthy's report claims?

OK I rewrite this ... copyright law is sufficient; software patents are 
not too little or too much just plain bad, bad, bad!
No to software patents!


Regards,

Ramanan

(BTW, does anyone know more about the subject covered by US patent 
number 5,805,785 ?...serious)