Understanding Software Patents: Hartmut Pilch Interviewed by Transforming Freedom

Transforming Freedom is a Vienna-based project that tries to build up an archive of interviews, focusing on digital culture, its technical, political, theoretical and artistic trends and historical backgrounds; like an oral history of the digital age. The team wants to collect significant audios and invites key players, theorists, inventors and originators to tell their story from their own point of view. The interviews are accessible for free as streamed audio files as well as in transcribed form. The whole project is under development — but you can already find a couple of discoursive gems.

Like an interview with Hartmut Pilch about Software Patents. Hartmut founded the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) and gives insights into the history of patent law, the theoretical shortcomings of the concept of software patents and their consequences.

To quote Hartmut: “My message to the patent world is: Either get back to the doctrines of forces of nature or face the elimination of your system.”

photo by han Soete