Software Patents Off The Agenda In The EU
Grok Headline matches for Software Patents Off The Agenda In The EU
Poles push patents off EU agenda
Poles push patents off EU agenda
12/22/2004 01:26 AMZDNet Dec 21 2004 4:55PM GMT
Software patents are bad for coders like
literary patents would be for writers
Software patents are bad for coders like
literary patents would be for writers
06/22/2005 01:49 AMCory Doctorow:
Richard Stallman, creator of the Free Software movement, has written a
tremendous essay for the Guardian on the risks of software patents.
Richard undertakes a gedankenexperiment about "literary patents" and
the impact they would have had on Victor Hugo as he sat down to pen
Les Miserables.
Now consider this hypothetical literary patent:
Claim 1: a communication process that represents, in the mind of a
reader, the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long
time and subsequently changes his name...
These patents would all cover the story of one character in a novel.
They overlap, but they do not precisely duplicate each other, so they
could all be valid simultaneously - all the patent holders could have
sued Victor Hugo. Any one of them could have prohibited publication of
Les Misérables.
You might think these ideas are so simple that no patent office would
have issued them. We programmers are often amazed by the simplicity of
the ideas that real software patents cover - for instance, the
European Patent Office has issued a patent on the progress bar, and
one on accepting payment via credit cards. These would be laughable if
they were not so dangerous.
Link
(
Thanks, Phil and Eloisa!)
No EU Software Patents
No EU Software Patents
12/17/2004 06:33 PMMunich, Germany (23 November 2004). The three
most famous European authors of open-source software have issued an
appeal against software patents on NoSoftwarePatents.com. Linus
Torvalds (Linux), Michael Widenius (MySQL) and Rasmus Lerdorf (PHP)
urge the EU Council, which will convene later in the week, not to
adopt a draft directive on software patents that they consider
"deceptive, dangerous, and democratically illegitimate". They also
call on the Internet community to express solidarity by placing
NoSoftwarePatents.com links and banners on many Web sites.
It would be nice if someone with some serious design credentials
would knock up some more aesthetically pleasing banners.
Software Patents Out, For Now
Software Patents Out, For Now
02/05/2005 09:46 PMPatent legislation is one step further away from being passed in the
European Union today. The Legal "Affairs Committee (JURI) said
that the commission should re-submit the controversial directive. The
Computer Implemented Inventions Directive" failed to receive
backing from the government's elected MEP's.
The <a
href="http://www.ffii.org/index.orig.en.html">FFII</a&
gt;, a EU pressure group, described the decision as "a powerful
statement from MEPs that the current Council text, and the logjam of
concern it has caused, is simply not a sustainable way forward."
FFII board member Jonas Maebe went on to say "The Commissioner
can jumpstart the constructive dialogue by submitting a new and more
balanced proposal to the European Parliament this time. By taking into
account the countless new facts that have surfaced since the start of
this procedure in 2002, the Commission has a great opportunity to
reinvigorate the Lisbon strategy."
Poland had previously blocked the directive from coming in to being.
It's opposed by groups who want to keep the EU free of copyrights on
software, something common to the USA. They argue that rather than
helping businesses protect their intellectual property, they act to
stifle innovation. Supporters of the directive argue that EU
legislation on copyrights is out dated and needs bringing into line
with the US system.
The road ahead is un-clear; the commission has a variety of options
that it can pursue. The most likely outcome with be a re-evaluation in
a few months time. Critics of the directive say the extra time will
allow countries more debate over the issue and give them another
chance to fully assess its implications.
View:
Previous coverage |
FFIIRead full story...EU Moves Toward Software Patents
EU Moves Toward Software Patents
05/07/2004 08:29 PMEU software patents: how the vote was
won
EU software patents: how the vote was
won
05/19/2004 05:53 AMNo hanging chads, but still a close call
"Software patents under attack"
"Software patents under attack"
07/05/2004 02:40 PMRMS On How To Fight Software Patents
RMS On How To Fight Software Patents
09/11/2004 06:37 PMU.S. to EU on software patents: "We sold
out, you should too"
U.S. to EU on software patents: "We sold
out, you should too"
06/09/2004 10:26 AMEuropean free software advocates, Green Party activists, Socialists,
economists, small business owners, and other radicals are working to
keep the European Union from instituting U.S.-style software patents.
But don't give up hope. The U.S. government and some of the biggest
U.S. software vendors are working to bring those backward Europeans
into the modern world, where software development can eventually be
limited to responsible companies instead of being done by any-old-body
with a computer and a good idea.
Software patents under attack
Software patents under attack
07/05/2004 06:25 AMEFF goes after ten most wanted
Software patents and rebel MEPs
Software patents and rebel MEPs
06/08/2004 06:04 AMLetters Voting record doesn't follow party line
Maybe Software Patents Won't Kill FOSS
After All
Maybe Software Patents Won't Kill FOSS
After All
07/26/2004 09:22 PMEU Software Patents Directive Delayed
Once More
EU Software Patents Directive Delayed
Once More
09/24/2004 04:17 PMA controversial software directive in the EU has been delayed once
more. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-president of the Greens/EFA Group, told
ElectricNews that "Officially, the council has experienced
translation difficulties with the new official languages of the EU. In
reality this file is returning to Coreper in order to allow the
technical discussions between experts from the member states to
continue."
The patent directive, part of the Lisbon agenda, was initially
intended to form part of a frame work to make the EU the most
competitive economic zone in the world by 2010. Intended to "tidy
up" the EU's messy patent laws, the directive has became twisted
from its original form. In its previous state, it would have allowed
patenting of software and algorithms. Proponents of the directive
argue that this is necessary to protect both big and small companies
from competitors stealing their IP.
However, many others argue that the directive would stifle competition
and cause more problems than it solved. If allowed/enacted, the
directive would bring the EU into line with the US where the practise
has caused dismay amongst software developers. Amazon's patenting of
"one-click" buying is often cited as a good example of why
the legislation is a bad idea.
View:
More @ ElectricNewsRead full story...How to fight software patents - singly
and together
How to fight software patents - singly
and together
09/09/2004 12:21 PMSoftware patents are the software project equivalent of land mines:
Each design decision carries a risk of stepping on a patent, which can
destroy your project.
Software patents 'threaten Linux'
Software patents 'threaten Linux'
01/23/2004 02:19 PMOpen source advocate Bruce Perens says the real threat to Linux is not
from SCO, but from software patents.
More on the Microsoft v. EU Decision on
Software Patents
More on the Microsoft v. EU Decision on
Software Patents
12/24/2004 12:35 PMEU Ministers Approve Software Patents
EU Ministers Approve Software Patents
05/18/2004 04:12 PMIn a move that is likely to cause a lot more harm than good, the
European Council has
approved a
dreadful plan to allow for software patents. The language of the
plan has apparently
removed an amendment that would have made
the idea more palatable to open source supporters. ZDNet UK
has more details. It's not a done deal yet, as it still needs
to be voted on by the European Parliament - but it will be much more
difficult to change the policy now. This is, once again, a case of
people making political decisions rather than ones that will generally
help the economy. Software patents will only tie up the patent and
legal system and will do plenty to slow down innovation, rather than
speed it up. Being able to invent something and being able to
successfully sell it to the market are two completely different
things. By saying that only those who invent a concept are allowed to
sell it to the market, they are slowing down the ability for companies
to successfully get new, useful products to market. With software
patents, this is especially troublesome because it's very difficult to
determine what in the software is actually patentable and very broad
concepts that should never be locked up under a government granted
monopoly end up that way.
UK firm patents software downloads
UK firm patents software downloads
06/16/2004 03:56 AMBTG in talks 'with several firms'
Patents Harming Software Innovation
Patents Harming Software Innovation
09/02/2004 11:47 AMIt appears that there's a common theme emerging from those who
understand how the patent system works. Lots of people have said it
before, but here's yet another opinion piece explaining
how software
patents are killing innovation, by making it nearly impossible to
build any new software product, without a huge liability risk. It
points out, again, that true innovation isn't in coming up with the
idea, but the application of the idea. Limiting the application to a
single company that claims they got their first kills off many
creative approaches to innovation, slowing down innovation and harming
the overall economy. What's scary is that, for all the talk
explaining this problem, almost nothing is actually being done to
reform the patent system in the right direction.
NewsForge On U.S. Advice To EU On
Software Patents
NewsForge On U.S. Advice To EU On
Software Patents
06/09/2004 05:40 PMEU software patents directive delayed -
again
EU software patents directive delayed -
again
09/24/2004 05:47 AMLess action, more talk
Demonstration Against Software Patents
in Europe
Demonstration Against Software Patents
in Europe
04/10/2004 01:56 PMCreative Pressures id Software With
Patents
Creative Pressures id Software With
Patents
07/28/2004 11:26 AMBattle brews over Web software patents
Battle brews over Web software patents
01/27/2003 11:05 PMInternational Herald Tribune Jan 27 2003 9:31PM ET
An Insider's View of Software Patents
An Insider's View of Software Patents
08/01/2004 08:02 PMGermany to Vote Against Software Patents
in the EU
Germany to Vote Against Software Patents
in the EU
05/16/2004 02:22 AMEU gives green light to software patents
EU gives green light to software patents
03/14/2005 04:52 PMWithout a clear mandate from its members, and in the face of outright
opposition from a few of them, the EU finally acts in the US software
industry's best interests and pushes forward software patents.
PwC: software patents threat to Europe
PwC: software patents threat to Europe
09/15/2004 05:53 AMFew prepared for consequences
Blocking Foolish European Software
Patents
Blocking Foolish European Software
Patents
08/15/2004 01:42 PMJack Schofield (Guardian): W
e won't kill you unless we have to. The issue is software
patents. America has them, and Europe could get more of them - unless
the German, British, French and other governments wake up to the
stupidity of what they are trying to do.
Report Says Patents Threaten Software
Innovation
Report Says Patents Threaten Software
Innovation
09/23/2004 08:44 AMSoftware patents in Europe go back to
square one
Software patents in Europe go back to
square one
02/05/2005 09:36 PMEurope will have to wait awhile for software patents. The European
Union is sending the process back to the starting point, in a victory
for anti-patent forces.
Patents Have Become The Nuclear
Stockpiling Of The Software Industry
Patents Have Become The Nuclear
Stockpiling Of The Software Industry
08/04/2004 06:23 AMMårten Mickos, CEO of mySQL, has written a piece over at Always-On,
explaining (accurately) that the software patent game these days is
t
he equivalent of nuclear stockpiling. You build up as many
patents as you can, because you know the competition is, too, and
you'll need them to fight off any patent battle. It doesn't need to
be this way. In fact, it shouldn't be this way, because all it's
doing is slowing down innovation and diverting money away from
development to lawyers. Mickos uses the database industry as an
example. In the days before software patents, plenty of people took
the relational database ideas of Edgar Codd (totally random aside: I
had a database professor in college who had the bumper sticker: "Codd
is God" in honor of Mr. Codd) and built up a thriving industry,
including the standardization of SQL, on which the entire industry is
based. While he doesn't say it specifically, the clear implication is
that in a world of software patents, that situation wouldn't have
existed. Letting everyone build their own implementations based on
the idea of relational databases and the standards of SQL allowed a
thriving, competitive industry to develop. Copyright laws protect the
code. However, when we patent ideas, the first person to come up with
the "idea" of a relational database could have patented it -- and
simply stopped the competition from happening without coughing up
license fees to IBM. As we've said before,
innovat
ion is more important than invention. By allowing the inventor to
patent an entire concept, it kills the ability to innovate, harming
the entire economy.
Banning software patents: a call to
action
Banning software patents: a call to
action
12/11/2003 03:52 AMFor the past nine months, much of the attention of the IT world has
been drawn to the SCO v. IBM case. Having started out as a case about
breach of contract, it is now about all three key areas of
intellectual property law: copyright law (was code illegally copied
from Unix into Linux?), patent law (did SCO violate IBM's patents?),
and trademark law (who owns 'UNIX'?).
US Exports DMCA, Software Patents To
Australia
US Exports DMCA, Software Patents To
Australia
08/03/2004 02:17 PMWhile most of the press is focused on other aspects of the free trade
agreement between the US and Australia, the tech world is noticing
that this agreement
exports plenty
of the bad aspects of US intellectual property law, including
software patents and DMCA-like anti-circumvention clauses. It's
amusing that the talk about the bill from President Bush includes
claims about "reducing restrictions" when the intellectual property
parts of the bill are clearly building up restrictions and barriers to
innovation. Of course, since it's such a big bill including all sorts
of trade issues, most politicians are more focused on other
complaints, which is why these innovation harming parts will mostly
slip by unnoticed.
Software Patents: Microsoft's Fatal
Error
Software Patents: Microsoft's Fatal
Error
04/07/2005 02:34 PMABCNEWS.com Apr 7 2005 6:11PM GMT
Group battling 'dubious' software
patents
Group battling 'dubious' software
patents
04/26/2004 02:37 PMBoston Globe Apr 26 2004 6:43PM GMT
Thank Poland for saving Europe from
software patents
Thank Poland for saving Europe from
software patents
12/28/2004 05:28 AM
Cory Doctorow:
For years now, the forces of good in Europe have been fighting against
reforms to EU patent laws that would allow software patents to be
filed in Europe. Software patents have existed in the US for some time
now, with
disastrous results
-- rather than encouraging innovation, these patents have been used by
companies who produce nothing except lawsuits to shut down whole
classes of technologies or to extort money from them.
There's no reasonable explanation for bringing software patents to
Europe. The American experiment has been such a complete and utter
failure, it's crystal-clear that software patents in Europe would be
just as bad.
And the Euro-activists have won again and again, every battle, and the
greedy jerks who support patents have strong-armed and cajoled the
European Parliament into breaking its own rules to overturn the
victories of the activists.
But at the very final
moment, the Polish Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of
Science and Information Technology stepped in and blocked the Patent
Directive, taking it off the EU agenda (for now, anyway). It was an
incredibly brave and important moment, one that will keep the European
technology industry and the citizens who rely on it free and safe.
ThankPoland is a site that is collecting thank-yous for the Polish
Undersecretary of State, particularily from the EU, but also from
around the world. We owe him a debt of gratitude and it's an honor to
thank him today.
Link
(Thanks, Crosbie!)
Surviving in a world full of software
patents
Surviving in a world full of software
patents
07/20/2004 11:16 AMTo promote freedom in the marketplace open source developers need to
start patenting their inventions.
Germany decides not to support the EC on
software patents
Germany decides not to support the EC on
software patents
05/14/2004 08:48 PMGermany has decided not to support the European Commission's directive
on software patents. Does this spell the end of the idea of issuing
software patents in Europe?
Grok Description matches for Software Patents Off The Agenda In The EU
GrokA matches for Software Patents Off The Agenda In The EU
Software Patents Off The Agenda In The EU
