Hi, this is just a temproary space...to get community participation on material which needs to be added in here.. on one hand we have the issue of 'imposed monopoly rights' - on the other hand a premier institution is promoting this.. rquest knowledgable memebers in fsf-i to state their position on this..so that we can build a debate... -S http://notoimp.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/imp-policy-in-iisc-bangalore/ harish k singh : Can you look at the article at http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/11/global-patent-troll-comes-to-india.h tml. The patents subsidized by our belowed govt is now in the hands of these trolls. Maybe we need to address these issues when the meeting in IISc happens next month.Incidently, this company's major investor is none other than microsoft. See http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_gladwell?cur rentPage=1. Rehat Venky : "Software patents are an important issue in India right now because there is a heated debate over how to interpret Section 3(k) which says that, "A mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms are not patentable." How "computer programme per se" is interpreted is of vital importance to the FOSS community. Therefore a talk by RMS on software patents would be relevant at this point in time and would help raise awareness of how patents prevent independent invention and restrict the freedom of software developers."