[Asterisk-Dev] G.729 for Asterisk: new version released

[Benjamin on Asterisk Mailing Lists]

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 09:38:50 +0000, Daniel Pocock
<daniel at readytechnology.co.uk> wrote:
> of the users and developers are from poorer countries that have been
> exploited by the West for centuries.  Their democratically elected
> governments have chosen not to endorse patent legislation.

Er, that's not true. There are only very very few countries who do not
have patent legislation. Papua New Guinea is probably the most
prominent one, most of the others are tiny island nations in the
Pacific, in other words places for which it would seem that the
overhead of running a patent office doesn't make it feasible to pass
any such legislation.

As far as Africa is concerned, almost all African states are members
of one to two pan-African patent conventions. There are two for
practical reasons, one is English speaking, the other French speaking.
Both conventions are members of WIPO and have ratified the PCT (Patent
Cooperarion Treaty). So, if you file a patent in a Western country
under the PCT, then you have 31 months (starting from the priority
date) in which your application is covered in all PCI signatory
states, including third world nations inclulding almost all of Africa.
After this period, the so called national phase of the PCT starts in
which you have to pursue individual patent applications in regional
treaties or in individual countries.

So, if you want to, you can file under the PCT in the national phase
in most countries of the world, including third world countries. It is
entirely up to the applicant.

The only reason why most patents are only filed in certain key
countries is the aim to optimise the manageability of a patent
portfolio. The fewer countries, the less your patent attorneys have to
look after. Third world countries are often skipped deliberately by
applicants, not because there is no local patent legislation, but
because it is often deemed to not be worthwhile.

For example, why would you want to file for a patent on a codec
related technology in a Pacific island nation which has only 10.000
inhabitants, only 500 of whom have a telephone?

rgds
benjk
-- 
Sunrise Telephone Systems, 9F Shibuya Daikyo Bldg., 1-13-5 Shibuya,
Tokyo, Japan.

NB: Spam filters in place. Messages unrelated to the * mailing lists
may get trashed.