m willing to bet, only) business.This could even be taken to the extremes of actually patenting simple methods of handling data,such as say, mouse support. Now, it can't happen to mouse support as it is today, but in the future,something undoubtably will replace the mouse as the preferred method of input, for instance, in what maybe a virtual reality future, the glove might be the input device. Anyway, say it did happen to mousesupport. Every single program that uses mouse support would have to pay a fee for the rights to do so.This would result in higher software prices (aren't they high enough?), and reduced quality in theprograms, as they have to worry about the legalities more (Del Guercio 22-24). Needless to say, thepatenting of software is not a widely loved policy, mostly embraced by large corporations like Lotus andMicrosoft (Tysver "Software Patents"). Smaller companies and most often consumers are generally againstit.Even with all the legal problems I've mentioned that arise with current laws, thats not all. Thecomplexity of software protection laws brings up a large degree of confusion. I myself thought thatcopyrights lasted 7 years until I read this. I asked 15 people in a chat room on the Internet what theyknew about software protection laws, and only one of them knew that software could be patented. 12 ofthem thought that it cost lots of money for a copyright, which it doesn't. It's $20 for a copyright atmost, and $10000 at most for a patent. 5 of them thought that software copyrights lasted 7 years (hey,it's a popular misconception, I thought so myself at one point). And last but not least, 10 of thembelieved that there was no laws regarding the copying of software (there are, but they're virtuallyineffective).Now that you know all about the legal and business aspects of software protection, lets take alook at how it can affect you. Say you've got a web page, and you've got a link on your web page to yourfrien...
