A Universal Alternative to Patents
Thu, 16/07/2009 - 10:57pm — HomerScenario: Millions of people are suffering from [some arbitrary disease], most of whom are poor people living in the Third World. A pharmaceutical company spends billions on R&D to find a cure, and eventually makes a breakthrough. The company calculates that, in order to recover its investment, and make a reasonable profit, it must guarantee the sale of X number of units of the drug, at Y cost per unit - anything less, and they cannot justify the investment. However, this necessity presents two problems:
a) The price (Y) is prohibitively high for Third World patients
b) The company must use the exclusivity of patents to ensure sufficient sales (X), so cheaper alternatives cannot be made available to the poor by other companies
World Day Against Software Patents
Wed, 24/09/2008 - 6:51pm — HomerWorld Day Against Software Patents - 24 September
Three years ago the European Parliament stopped the attempt to make software patents enforcable in Europe. An unprecedented community effort made it possible with a relative low awareness about the dangers among larger software companies. Since then litigation and patent traps have become a serious problem for the market and users of software. We need to reduce patent risks which impede innovation and investment.
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GPL JMRI Beats Patent Troll Matt Katzer in Court
Fri, 15/08/2008 - 9:14am — HomerFrom the criminal-thug-gets-just-deserts dept.
Ruling Is a Victory for Supporters of Free Software - NYTimes.com