-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Summary of the Workshop at UoM on TRIPS Treaty and Computer Programs Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2005 22:06:48 +0530 From: Ramanraj K ramanraj.k@gmail.com To: ilugc@ae.iitm.ac.in

Brief highlights of the Workshop on "TRIPS Treaty and Computer Programs at the Dept. of Legal Studies, UoM on 8th April 2005:

The presentation slides are available at: http://wiki.ffii.org/Madras050408En

Sivasankar started the discussion with the difficulties involved in testing "program equivalence", giving two short programs, based on the Goldbach conjecture, calling one as the goldbach (about 7 lines) and the other the ghost_of_goldbach (about 3 lines that always returns true). Testing program equivalence is at the heart of any "software patent" infringement suit, and Shiv proved that it is well impossible to scientifically research and conclude that two given programs are equivalent. There are not even any standard rules for scientifically testing and concluding "program equivalence".

Sivasankar holds a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and has done M.E. in Computer Science, at IISc., Bangalore. He has worked for IBM, USA., and has presented several papers on computer science, and software development. Well, he is a typical expert who may be called to testify in a "software patent" infringement suit, to "prove" that a given computer program infringes upon a given "software patent". From what I understood, no expert can assert on oath that two programs are "equivalent" or that one is a copy of the other, except when the two are exact copies.

Murali discussed the various business models used by software entities to do business.

I basically summarised the recent events touching upon patentability of software patents under TRIPS that has mostly been discussed to death in our various mailing lists; and to enliven the proceedings; took the audience through the recent decision pronounced in Eolas v. Microsoft, to explain how the system works in the US, and that we should explore and research the steps that could be taken against the illegitimate practice of "software patents" which are a barrier against free trade.

I would like to thank Raman who gave a demo, and all the participants from ilugc.

Please post your comments/opinions to jur-parl mailing list at http://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/jur-parl

Thanks, Ramanraj.