[Lilux-info] IBM slammed over patent giveaway

check out this article: http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39126979,00.htm some snips: <snip> IBM is a member of pro-patent organisation EICTA. According to sources it has also individually lobbied political parties to push through the directive. </snip> <snip> A spokesman for Germany's ruling Social Democratic (SPD) party, which spoke out against the directive in October, told silicon.com sister site ZDNet UK that IBM has put pressure on it both individually and through EICTA to support the directive. In particular, Fritz Teufel, the head of IBM's patent department in Germany, has been involved in pushing through the software patent directive, according to Mueller and the FFII, which has a Web page dedicated to Teufel. </snip> <snip> "We've been told all along by the EPO (European Patent Office), the UKPO and the DTI that 'software patents do not hurt open source software', but here is the world's largest software patent holder openly admitting that they do," said Tortolano. "IBM's exclusion of small businesses perfectly highlights that software patent portfolios have enabled multinational corporations to become legislators of who can and cannot develop computer software." </snip> -- regards, Georges Toth