European Software Patents - a potential hindrance of ICT in education - FLOSSE Posse

Anticipating Round 2: European Software Patents - a potential hindrance of ICT in education - FLOSSE Posse

I'm just ctaching up on the results of the Open source for Education in Europe conference held in November & noticed this interesting post which sets out some of the arguments against allowing software patents after the European Parliament rejected the proposed European software patent law (i.e. the directive on Computer Implemented Inventions).

A campaign has been started because of concerns about the potential reduction of access to Lifelong Learning and global digital knowledge eg:

* The cost of applications could become higher because of the software patent system and the choice of available software could become limited.

* It could have a negative effect on "in-house" and/or open source development of educational applications.

* Third, the roll-out of educational FOSS in education could be jeopardised by the danger of software patents.

I feel that Open Source Software has a lot to offer and worry that the demands of the "big players" could limited future innovation.



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