Re: [Fsfe-uk] Stalls at Marxism 2003

[James Heald]

Timothy Baldwin wrote:

> On Wednesday 02 Jul 2003 2:50 pm, Timothy Baldwin wrote:
>
>
> > I will write a draft covering the following points:
> >
> > 1. Patents are a form of interlectual property
> > 2. Software patents are accumalate power in the hands of big business
> > 3. Software patents infringe the freedom to write comuputer software.
> > 4. Software patents are usually bariers to free software devlopment.
>
>
> Heres my draft petition text:
>
> Association For Free Software 
>  
> We the undersigned demand that software patents should be abolished /  not 
> established. Software patents grant ownership of techniques used in writing 
> computer software, which make it illegal to use such techniques without the 
> permission of the patent holder. Given that the means of writing computer 
> software are affordable, this amounts to a serious attack on the personal 
> freedom to write computer software.Furthermore, due to the large number of 
> techniques used in the writing any one program, it is not possible for a 
> individual or organisation to ensure that it does not use any patentable 
> techniques, thus putting them at risk of being sued, especially by large 
> business which hold a lot of patents. 
>  

An alternative would be to use the no-epatents text,
        http://www.noepatents.org/index_html?LANG=en
currently at 155281 signatures and counting.

The signees could then be typed in to the database, lining them up for 
future alerts from Eurolinux.

------------

This petition is directed to the European Parliament. Its goal is to 
warn European Authorities against the dangers of software patents. This 
petition is supported by the EuroLinux Alliance together with European 
companies and non-profit associations. Please make this petition well 
known to everybody concerned.

I am concerned by current plans to legalise software patents in Europe, 
considering their damaging effect on innovation and competition.

I am concerned by the possible use of software patents to patent 
business methods, education methods, health methods, etc.

I am concerned by the current track record of abuses from the European 
Patent Office, especially by their tendency to abuse their judicial 
power to extend the scope of patentability.

I am surprised that no economic report has ever been published by 
European Authorities to study the impact of software patents on 
innovation and competition.

I urge decisionmakers at all levels in Europe to enforce the Law, which 
clearly prohibits patenting pure computer programs, instead of changing it.

I urge decisionmakers at all levels in Europe to reconsider their 
current plans and to make sure patents are not abused to prohibit or 
restrict the dissemination of computer programs and intellectual methods.

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