Re: [Fsfe-uk] Long: transcript of RMS talk at Cambridge

[Simon Waters]

Robert Lazzurs wrote:
> 
> First of all I would like to say sorry for replying to an old e-mail but I
> have just managed to catch up, I have been kinda busy.

Ditto - at least the spam trap got a couple of hundred unwanted
e-mails.

> I am just sitting here and thinking of what copyleft is and how it came
> about, people did not like copyrighting software and making it all
> restrictive.  Then I began to wonder, could this not be done with patents?
> every gnu/free software program out there files for patents (not I don't
> know if patents cost money or not, but if they do then some kind of fund
> could be set up) for them, then any free software would be protected
> against someone else taking out patents that we have software for, and
> then the big companies and goverment would see the problems with software
> patents?

Interesting idea, but the patent system is set up to avoid such
things.

You can only patent new idea (or at least enforce patents
for...), a distributed implementation would count as prior art
or publication I fear.

Of course if someone has a really revolutionary idea for
software, patents it, and only licences it to authors of free
software, it might help shift the balance of power. But that is
the kind of stuff to worry about in the event that Europe
blindly follows the insane US patenting system. Such must have
innovations in software are rare events.