waterskidoo <water.skidoo@xxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> On 2007-07-06, Mark Kent <mark.kent@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> The EULAs are almost certainly invalid in the UK, as are software patents,
>> however, that doesn't mean that copyright law doesn't apply, it does,
>> so you still need a legitimately licensed copy of Windows, however,
>> you /cannot/ license software patents, because they are not valid here
>> (or anywhere else except the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia), so it
>> is impossible to purchase a legitimate licence for same from anyone,
>> including Microsoft.
>
> OIC. I forgot about copyright law. Thanks for the explanation because
> I was confused how this all played out.
> FWIW my personal feeling about EULA in general is that it does nothing
> to protect the consumer and does everything to protect the vendor.
> I'm not sure how I fee about software patents though because that is
> a most complex issue. I have to give that one some more thought.
Software is covered by copyright law everywhere in the world, including,
interestingly, the US. Afaik, pure software cannot even be patented in
the US either, rather, it has to be dressed up as a "business method",
ie., the companies doing this are stretching the US patent system well
beyond what it was intended to do.
Pure software is an expression of mathematics, so should not be subject
to patent laws.
There is an argument to say that machines which combine physical
function as well as software in combination together should be subject
to patent law.
Personally, I think that the whole system needs a complete overhaul, as
it is now used by very large businesses as a means of stopping
competition through (mis)-use of the legal system.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
|
|
