Sunday, August 03, 2008

Why software patents are harmful

When we were battling the Patent Amendment Act 2005, I had requested Lawrence Liang of the Alternative Law Forum to put together a note on why software patents are harmful. Virtually overnight, Liang and his team at Alternative Law Forum put together a position paper on software patents and their impact on the Indian industry. This is a highly recommended read for those interested in this issue.

We had forwarded this note to policy makers across the spectrum and were successful in keeping software patents off this amendment. However, the draft patent manual seeks to bring in software patents through the backdoor and we are working on ensuring this does not happen. Will keep you posted.