[pp.int.general] Vienna meeting

[Ole Husgaard]

Jouni Snellman wrote:
> Thanks people for everything, it was great meeting you all.
Indeed it was.

A big, big thanks to everybody who could come to Vienna, and to the 
people arranging this great event!
> Next time we should not let anyone drag us into discussing a red 
> herring topic like software patents, the most irrelevant of all the 
> irrelevant EU dossiers. We lost a whole afternoon of scarce -and thus 
> valuable - time together.
I tend to disagree here, and would like to explain further, as I think 
too many pirates consider it nonimportant. What we call "software 
patents" are not just patents on software, but also patents on business 
methods that can be supported by software. Basically it is patents on 
any idea that can be supported by, or implemented in, software. In the 
information society we should not monopolize all these ideas. In 
particular it would be catastropic if we are not allowed to write and 
use the software we want, and instead had to use only the software we 
are allowed to use.
> I still don´t understand why we can not discuss trade mark and trade 
> secret laws which are infinitely more important IPRs than patents.
Yes these issues are also important, and unfortunately there was little 
discussion of these, except in the many private conversations I had.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.