Ashant Chalasani
CEO of Wapsol

Keeping the software industry away from patents would mean more innovative freedom for small companies. OSS software, that has meant so much to so many small software companies, basically grew out of free (as in freedom) knowledge sharing, which is just not imaginable in presence of patents.
At the end the real winner is the consumer, who has access to innovations that come out of a broad base of software suppliers including small, medium and big co's. In presence of patents the innovations will be limited only to the big co's.
Behind all this the judges and MEPs should appreciate the fact that earning a patent is a pure question of investing sufficient finances, which small co's just don't have. It's hard enough for small co's to come up with the money for marketing their products; patents will negatively effect their chances of creating innovative technology.
We all know that there is a monopoly situation in the software industry. Allowing patents will equip the monoplists with a powerful weapon to charge their capital/cash into and tighten their grip on the consumer's choices.
Consider also the fact that the majority of the world's population has no access to the "digital revolution" that is defining the future. They are just too poor to afford computers and software. We call that the digital-divide and in presence of patents that divide expands significantly.