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Australia

Submission + - Australia's National Broadband Network to go ahead (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "After weeks of a hung parliament following the Australian federal election, the incumbent Labor Party has garnered enough support among independent MPs to form a minority government. Broadband was central to clinching the independents' support. Labor's victory means the $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) will push ahead. The policy has generally been popular among ISPs and telcos — though some rebel operators preferred a policy that emphasised wireless technologies, similar to the proposals put forward by Labor's opponents. The primarily fibre-based NBN is set to offer Australians 1Gbps broadband."
Patents

Submission + - Venture capitalists lobby against software patents (feld.com)

Submitted by ciaran_o_riordan
ciaran_o_riordan writes: No matter which side the US Supreme Court's Bilski decision pleases, it will be just the beginning of the software patent debate in the USA — the other side will start a legislative battle. The lobbying has already begun with venture capitalist Brad Feld arguing against software patents, mailing a copy of Patent Absurdity to 200 patent policy setters. As Feld puts it, "Specifically, I'm hoping the film will bring you to an understanding of why patents on software are a massive tax on and retardant of innovation in the US." The patent lawyers and big patent holders often tell us that patents are needed to secure investment, so it's interesting to see now that venture capitalists are refuting that. And Brad Feld's not the only vocal one, there's a growing list.

Comment Tide Will Turn on Turning (Score 1) 172

by OurNewOverloard (#31877380) Attached to: Is the Tide Turning On Patents?
If the supreme court strikes down software patents with their Bilski ruling, a huge amount of money will flood Congress from patent lawyers and large patent holders like IBM and Microsoft and the super scary Intellectual Ventures, hoping to buy legislation that puts software patents right back in again. So yes, the tide is turning. The question is how fast will it turn back again.

Comment Software patents have broken the system (Score 1) 1

by OurNewOverloard (#22589804) Attached to: Time to abolish software patents?
Let me see.... The patent office can't handle the piles-of-crap submissions they are receiving and a huge backlog has built up because anyone and there mum can spend 5 minutes to submit a software patent claim, and the trolls are busy chasing down any business that can be intimidated into coughing up cash just for having the cheek of running a website or using - you know - any type of software... Solution, courts should bring back the sanity that prevailed some time in that last century, and restrict patents to... physical fricking inventions - not mind farts.
Patents

Submission + - Time to abolish software patents? (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by gnujoshua
gnujoshua writes: Has the time come to abolish software patents? Fortune magazine columnist Roger Parloff reports of a new campaign called End Software Patents, that he views as "Attempting to ride a wave of corporate and judicial disenchantment with aspects of the current patent system." Ryan Paul of ArsTechnica writes that the purpose of the campaign will work to "educate the public and encourage grass-roots patent reform activism in order to promote effective legislative solutions to the software patent problem." The campaign site is informative and targets many types of readers, and it includes a scholarship contest with a top prize of $10,000.00.

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