UK Debate

The United Kingdom apparently has a "partisan role" in the software patent debate, promoting its own interests by promulgating incorrect and unsubstantiated assertions about the consequences of software patents.

On a tangential note, it is ironic that Microsoft hasn't spoken out yet. They are between a rock and a hard place. If they support software patents, they open themselves up to more Eolas like legislation. If they don't support patents, they lose their one lynch-pin over open source software, where they are consistently losing ground based already on comparisons of price, support, functionality, security, and good-will. The salvation by intellectual property is moot. They'll have to go the IBM Global Services route someday, I guess.

The only pure beneficiaries of software patents are the companies that produce only patents and so do not incur liability, the lawyers, and the patent office. I guess, in the legal profession, I shouldn't knock it too much.