US Exports DMCA, Software Patents To Australia

from the here,-let-us-help-you-slow-down-innovation dept

While most of the press is focused on other aspects of the free trade agreement between the US and Australia, the tech world is noticing that this agreement exports plenty of the bad aspects of US intellectual property law, including software patents and DMCA-like anti-circumvention clauses. It's amusing that the talk about the bill from President Bush includes claims about "reducing restrictions" when the intellectual property parts of the bill are clearly building up restrictions and barriers to innovation. Of course, since it's such a big bill including all sorts of trade issues, most politicians are more focused on other complaints, which is why these innovation harming parts will mostly slip by unnoticed.

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