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Patent absurdity [via]:

If patent law had been applied to novels in the 1880s, great books would not have been written. If the EU applies it to software, every computer user will be restricted, says Richard Stallman. […]

Here’s one example of a hypothetical literary patent:

Claim 1: a communication process that represents, in the mind of a reader, the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and becomes bitter towards society and humankind.

Claim 2: a communication process according to claim 1, wherein said character subsequently finds moral redemption through the kindness of another.

Claim 3: a communication process according to claims 1 and 2, wherein said character changes his name during the story.

If such a patent had existed in 1862 when Les Misérables was published, the novel would have infringed all three claims — all these things happened to Jean Valjean in the novel. Hugo could have been sued, and would have lost. The novel could have been prohibited — in effect, censored — by the patent holder. […]

You might think these ideas are so simple that no patent office would have issued them. We programmers are often amazed by the simplicity of the ideas that real software patents cover — for instance, the European Patent Office has issued a patent on the progress bar, and one on accepting payment via credit cards. These would be laughable if they were not so dangerous.

As it happens, claims 1 and 2 are pretty close to covering the story of the novel I had planned to write. Is that sign destined to encourage me to actually get started, or to find another idea?

P.S. Unless the absence of comments on this post is a sign that nobody gives a damn.