Europes Software Patent Law Essay -- Patenting Economics Essays

Europes Software perceptible Law Today in Europe, the issue of software patentability is a heated and controversial effect amongst the software industry. Currently Europes software patent law is unclear and inconsistent. There has been a wide spread effort by major(ip) players in Europes software industry and governmental bodies to try to formalize and disambiguate the law on the patentability of software. But up to know in that location has been very little progress in the formalization of this law. What has resulted is an ongoing controversy amongst the Europeans. Proponents of software patenting have been trade for an extension of the scope of software patenting. However, its opponents have been calling for a drastic reduction of what should be patentable software. We begin our discussion with the roots of how patent law came to be in Europe and thusly focus our upkeep to the current law of software patentability. We then turn to a current controversial issue in Europe s software industry and then get key ethical perspectives on this issue. We then finish up with my defense on particular position of a proposed ethical issue on the current software patent law. Established by the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (EPC) in 1973, the European Patent Organization was created to establish a uniform patent system in Europe. The European Patent Organization is an intergovernmental body setup by the EPC1, its members are made up of contracting states of the European Union (EU) including the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to name a few. The executive arm of the European Patent Organization is the European Patent Office (EPO) whose function is to grant European patents to each of its contracting states. The administrat... ...ww.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,37721,00.html3.Donald, James A.,The American Revolution - an HTML project, Lockes Second Treatise (Chap V) On Property, 1997, http//cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/LockeOnProper ty.pdf4.Duke L. & Tech., SOFTWARE PATENT LAW UNITED STATES AND europium COMPARED, 2003, http//www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2003dltr0006.html5.European Patent Office, The European Office, 2003, http//www.european-patent-office.org/index.htm6.European Software Patent Horror Gallery, European Software Patent Horror Gallery, 2003 http//swpat.ffii.org/vreji/pikta/index.en.html7.Spinello, Frameworks for Ethical Analysis, Chapter 2 of Ethical Aspects of Information Technology, Prentice Hall, http//cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/framework.pdf8.The Patent Office, The UK Patent Office, 2003, http//www.patent.gov.uk

Knowledge Is Power: How To Buy A Computer :: essays research papers

Knowledge is Power How To Buy A ComputerBuying a individual(prenominal) computer can be as difficult as buying a car. No matter how much(prenominal) one investigates, how many dealers a mortal visits, and how much bargaininga person has done on the price, he still may non be re all toldy certain that he hasgotten a good deal. There are good reasons for this uncertainty. Computerschange at much prompter rate than any other kind of product. A two-year-old car give always get a person where he wants to go, but a two-year-old computer maybe completely inadequate for his needs. Also, the average person is nottechnically savvy enough to make an informed decision on the best processor tobuy, the right size for a hard drive, or how much memory he or she really needs.Just because buying a computer can be confusing does not mean one should separatrixup his hands and put himself at the mercy of some salesman who may not know muchmore than he does. If one would follow a few basic guideline s, he could beassured of making a wise purchase decision.A computer has only one purpose to extend programs. Some programs require morecomputing power than others. In order to figure out how powerful a computer theconsumer needs, therefore, a person must(prenominal) first determine which programs he wantsto run. For many buyers, this creates a problem. They cannot buy a computeruntil they know what they want to do with it, but they cannot really know allof the uses there are for a computer until they own one. This problem is not astough as it seems, however. The consumer should go to his local computer store,and look at the software thats available. Most programs explain their minimumhardware requirements right on the box. After looking at a few packages, itshould be pretty candid to the consumer that any mid-range system will run 99% ofthe available software. A person should only need a top-of-the-line system forprofessional applications such as graphic design, video production, orengineering. Software tends to lag behind hardware, because its written toreach the widest possible audience. A program that only works on the suddenPentium Pro system has very limited sales potential, so most programs written in1985 work just fine on a fast 486, or an entry-level Pentium system. Moreimportantly, very few programs are optimized to take advantage of a Pentiumspower. That means that even if the consumer pays a large premium for the fastest