From my post to Slaw today:

Slashdot reports that today has been declared World Day Against Software Patents by the European based Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure

They believe that software patents impede innovation and investment.

So depending on what side of this debate one falls on, feel free to either celebrate and promote it, or cringe and rail against it.

My thoughts? First, my bias – I’m not a patent agent, although I do deal with a lot of IP and IT issues, and advise companies that create and sell software or SAAS products. I have mixed feelings about it – but can’t help wonder if there is a good argument that to some extent patent protection has gone too far and can indeed impede innovation. That may be especially true in fields like software where change and innovation happen far more quickly, and from far more sources, than traditional technology.