Damages copyright

Patents conflict with copyrights in various ways.

Prevents use of your own work

When someone writes software, they usually want to distribute it or sell it. Patents allow a third-party who contributed nothing to the writing of the software to block such distribution or sale.

(Many anti-swpat people say "We have copyright, that's enough" - how can that be explained here??)

Patent applications can violate copyright

• Copyright: Lawfirms Sued for Submitting Prior Art to the USPTO, Patently-O
• Copyright Lawsuit against Patent Firms Continue: Firms Claim Fair Use and Copyright Misuse, 23 Apr 2012, Patently-O

This is obviously a particularly big problem for fields of development such as software which focus on producing copyrightable works.

External links

• In Defence of the Software Author, 18 Aug 2004, Christian Beauprez
  • Translation: (in French) http://www.ffii.fr/Protection-de-l-auteur-de-logiciels.html