[kanchilug] Fwd: Fwd: INVITATION TO ATTEND SEMINAR ON “SOFTWARE PATENTS AND THE COMMONS”
- From: Chandran <chandran@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ILUG-C <ilugc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, KanchiLug <kanchilug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:51:16 +0530
Dear all
INVITATION TO ATTEND SEMINAR ON “SOFTWARE PATENTS AND THE COMMONS”
Date – September 2, 2010
Venue – India International Center, New Delhi
Organised by Software Freedom Law Center, Knowledge Commons and the
Center for Internet and Society
Sponsored by Red Hat
As the digital economy grows, software has begun to govern and
regulate almost every aspect of our lives. Therefore, the question of
whether software should be granted patents that confer a 20 year
monopoly for the patent holder, is an extremely important question
from a socio-economic perspective.
In India, Section 3(k) of the Indian Patent Act says that, “A
mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or
algorithms are not patentable.” Given this context, the question of
whether software can be patented hinges on how the courts interpret
the term, “per se” in Section 3(k).
Apart from this narrow legal question, there is also the broader
policy question of whether software should be patentable at all. While
experts like Ben Klemens argue that software is essentially a form of
mathematics, Bessen and Meurer show how the abstract nature of
software leads to software patents accounting for almost 38 percent of
all patent litigation in the US. Contrary to popular wisdom, Bessen
and Meurer's work shows that instead of promoting innovation (the
stated policy rationale for patents), software patents actually
decrease the welfare of software developers who have to bear the
unavoidable risk of infringing some of the more than 200,000 patents
that have been granted in the US. Building on Bessen and Meurer, Kevin
Emerson Collins argues that a tragedy of property results from the
inefficient, externality-generating overuse of the institution of
property itself.
This one day seminar, "Software Patents and the Commons" will look at
software patents from the viewpoint of the "Knowledge Commons," as
against the more commonly explored viewpoint of "Intellectual Property."
Some of the confirmed speakers at this event are:
Ø Dr. Abhijit Sen
Member, Planning Commission
Ø Prof. Eben Moglen
Professor of Law and Legal History at Columbia University
Founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman, Software Freedom Law Centre
Ø Mr. T.C. James
Director, National Intellectual Property Organisation
We look forward to having you join us for this seminar. Kindly confirm
your participation to me by mail or call me on +91 9019992441.
Regards
Krithika
--
Krithika Dutta Narayana
The Centre for Internet and Society
Bangalore
Ph: +91 9019992441
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