[IP] UK Meeting Trade Secrets, Dongles, and Patents: A History of Software Protection
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 10:55:11 +0100
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Wednesday 8th October. 2003, 15:00-16:00, Claremont Tower, Room 519
Tea & Biscuits in Claremont Tower, (tenth floor common room) after talk.
COLLOQUIUM
University of Newcastle, School of Computing Science
Trade Secrets, Dongles, and Patents: A History of Software Protection
Speaker: Martin Campbell-Kelly (University of Warwick)
http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~mck/
Abstract
The European Parliament will shortly be voting on whether or not to allow
software patents in Europe. Since software patents were officially
permitted in the United States in 1982 tens of thousands have been granted.
Software patents are deeply controversial: in particular it is argued that
patent thicketsthreaten the existence of the software industry and the open
source movement. This seminar traces the evolution of software protection,
from trade secrets in the 1960s, through copyright protection in the 1970s,
to software patents in the 1980s. The perceived threats to the future of
software construction are set in the historical context of information
technology patents over the last 100 years.
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
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