European patent law is not as amenable to software patents as US patent law is. This could cause a serious fracture in the software community. If software created in Europe violates US software patents but is perfectly legal in Europe (or Asia, etc.) what kind of repercussions will that have on the industry? How will the WTO handle the inevitable conflict between the US and everyone else? Will we have software created for the US market and then software created for the rest of the world? Will the US software companies fall behind as the rest of the world innovates as they are not as encumbered with patent restrictions as the US is? This could cause serious issues with businesses that have an international presence.
Unfortunately, large business interests in the European Union are pushing the European Patent Office to allow patents to cover software. This would in effect stifle software innovation in both the US and Europe while the developing nations such as India and China, not bound by restrictive patent law, could then conceivably take the lead in software development.
Our current patent law is bad for the software industry, bad for the economy, and is going to put the US (and possible Europe if special interests get their way) at a disadvantage in the world market as much of software development is going to transition to Europe and Asia where software is not as readily patented. With regard to software, patent law is doing the opposite of what it was meant to do. It is being used to stifle innovation and keep the big players in power at the expense of a thriving software industry.
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