Where's the link to the proposed laws? Not that it matters to people outside the UK but if you want a debate here you have to give us the subject matter for review. And, yes, it doesn't have much to do with mIRC, unless of course you are saying that software shouldn't be classed as IP.
In advance I will say that if someone invents something then they deserve recognition for it and they deserve protection from the lazy charletons out there who spend their time copying inventions simply to make a quick quid out of it.
