[Fsfe-uk] Fwd: [SWPAT] EU patent officials meeting this week. Letters needed *now*.

[James Heald]

Below is (very slightly revised) an email alert sent out to FFII supporters.

Faxes sent to MPs today/tonight could be particularly important
(especially if the local MP is a Lib Dem).  Use www.faxyourmp.com

Please forward this alert at will to any mailing lists where it
has not already been posted.

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[SWPAT] EU patent officials meeting this week. Letters needed *now*.
A web version can be found at  http://www.ffii.org.uk/council.html


        Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure UK


Dear Supporter[1],

In September the European Parliament voted[2] for strong restrictions[3]
on software patentability, after having heard powerful arguments from
economists[4], scientists[5], small business associations[6] and MEPs[7]
that software patents would be bad for e-commerce[8], bad for small
businesses[9], and bad for innovation[10].

But this vote is in danger of being set aside[11] at a meeting of the
EU's Competitiveness Council of Ministers[12] on 10 November. The
ministers' meeting is to be "negotiated" at a meeting of senior patent 
officials[13] from across Europe even sooner: this Thursday 23 October.

If UK ministers cannot be convinced otherwise before 10 November, it
is believed they will push for the Council to adopt a November 2002
draft text[14], which is even worse than the infamous McCarthy
report[15]. The European Parliament's rules for second reading make it
very difficult for MEPs to fix a bad text from the Council.

So far UK ministers have been sleepwalking, automatically following a
Patent Office script.  The FFII is therefore calling for all supporters
to contact their local MPs, as soon as possible.  We have until 10
November at the latest to wake up UK ministers up the dangers of 
software patents. If at all possible we need to try to make an impact 
before this Thursday.

It could be our last good chance to stop software patents in Europe.

Every letter could be the one which tips the balance.

Every letter counts.

Best regards,

    Software Patents Workgroup,
    FFII-UK

Supporters elsewhere in Europe may like to look at this page at FFII[16]
for information on who to contact, and what else can be done.


Know your stuff:

     * How important is the Council of Ministers?
     * What is the UK position?
     * Are software patents good for software developers?
     * What does the minister need to know?
     * Who to contact
     * How to be effective
     * How to stay in touch


How important is the Council of Ministers?

   VERY. The European Parliament's rules for second reading make it far
   more difficult for MEPs to fix a bad text from the Council, because
   any amendments need an absolute majority[17] of all of the 623
   elected MEPs -- ie usually far more than 50% of those actually voting
   in the chamber.


What is the UK position?

   UK policy has so far been led by the UK Patent Office[18]. The UKPO
   has been particularly active in lobbying[19] for unlimited
   patentability and is unlikely to support a platform which is
   acceptable to anyone except the patent industry.

   Unless they can be convinced otherwise, UK Government ministers are
   being led by UKPO officials to support the November 2002 draft[20]
   drawn up by patent offices across Europe. The Nov 2002 version
   actively supports software patenting, unlike the September 2003
   European Parliament text[21].

   Replies from ministers[22] are claiming that the UK Patent Office's
   consultation[23] 3 years ago produced results which were "broadly in
   favour" of the UKPO position. In fact, the views[24] of software
   professionals (as opposed to patent professionals) were
   overwhelmingly against software patents.


Are software patents good for software developers?

   NO. "Software patents are like landmines for programmers. At each
   design decision, there is a chance you will step on a patent and it
   will destroy your project. Considering the large number of ideas that
   must be combined in a modern program, the danger becomes very large."
   -- Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project.

   Supporters of e-patents often make the simple equation
        patents ==innovation == growth.
   One of the most interesting articles to rebut this is "e-Patents and
   financial investing"[25] by Laura Creighton, a software venture
   capitalist. It explains why software patents are not necessary, nor
   usually even helpful, and give surprisingly little real protection.

   Software patents are bad for e-commerce[26], bad for small
   businesses[27] and bad for innovation[28]. That is why leading
   economists[29], scientists[30], small business associations[31], and
   MEPs[32] all urged the European Parliament to vote against software
   patents.


 What does the minister needs to know?

     * Our central request is for the the Council of Ministers not to
       adopt its draft November 2002 text[33] unamended, but instead to
       substantially revise it, adopting and building on the Parliament
       amendments.

     * Most importantly, we need to convince the Government that
       software patents are a bad idea. Ministers should not just follow
       the advice of the UK Patent Office (UKPO) uncritically. Currently
       UKPO are both judge and jury, and about as likely to campaign for
       real limits on software patents as turkeys are to vote for
       Christmas.  Ministers must be challenged to consider for
       themselves what is really in the best interests of the UK
       software industry and all UK computer users.

     * Free software is directly threatened[34] by software patents. But
       it is essential that the campaign against software patents is not
       just "special pleading" by supporters of Open Source--"free-love,
       open-standard, freeware fanatics" according to one patent lawyer.
       The entire industry would be damaged by patenting and litigation.
       If you write about free software, please make clear how important
       it is to the whole software industry and commercial end-users.

     * The directive claims to allow the patenting of new "technical"
       devices, but not the patenting of "generic pure software". But
       the EPO regards almost any software innovation as technical[35].
       Without an explicit definition, European Courts will be forced to
       follow the EPO doctrine. The European Parliament's most important
       amendment is its new very clear definition of what is and what is
       not "technical".

     * The November 2002 draft also makes abstract data processing a
       field of technology[36]; has no article 6a to allow
       interoperability[37] -- and it would allow program claims[38], so
       that just discussing code on a website can be a direct patent
       infringement. Ministers must re-open the November 2002 text.
       Every letter counts.


 Who to contact

     * WRITE to your local MP as soon as possible with your concerns
       about software patents, and ask your MP to bring them to the
       attention of Stephen Timms MP[39], the minister for e-commerce at
       the DTI.

     * BY ASKING your local MP to forward your concerns, you should get
       a reply personally signed by the minister. You could of course
       just write to the minister directly; but if you do, you will just
       receive a standard civil service reply, and the minister will
       never see it.

     * FIND your local MPs by typing your postcode in www.faxyourmp.com
       Then WRITE to your MP at:

           Name of MP,
           House of Commons,
           London,
           SW1A 0AA

     * COPY your letters to uk-parl-sent @ ffii.org.uk, and replies to
       uk-parl-replies @ ffii.org.uk

       You should only write to your own local MP. You may also wish to
       send a blind copy of your letter to [40]Richard Mulcahy at the
       Patent Office.


 How to be effective

     * DO: make your letter personal. Explain who you are, how this
       issue affects you, and why it matters to you.

     * DON'T: write the same as everybody else. MPs ignore form letters.
       Decide which is the most logical or important starting point for
       you, and then bring in other points around that.

     * IF you are:
          + a small business: tell your MP why and how a rush to
            software patents would afftect your business. Be sure to
            mention your turnover and number of employees -- real money
            and real jobs are at stake.
          + a user of software: tell your MP what makes you afraid of
            monopolisation and loss of choice.
          + a member of a political party, a trade union, a university,
            a consumer organisation, a business association, or any
            other sort of organised body: think how you can mobilise
            your organisation to make its voice heard.
          + a consultant: explain to your clients - and the MP - why
            software patents will make it harder for you to solve their
            problems.

     * DO: be polite, reasonable and well-informed (insane abuse doesn't
       help). Be focussed and to the point. If your letter is very long,
       write a short one-page executive summary bulletting the main
       points, and use it as a covering letter to introduce the full
       brain dump.

     * DO: spread the word. There is very little time, and we need to
       make a huge impact. So unless you want to see legislation for
       unlimited patentability, pass the message on to other people.
       Encourage them to write.


 How to stay in touch

     * Join the FFII list of supporters[41]
     * Sign the Eurolinux petition[42] against software patents.
     * If you want to do more, or to keep in touch with the campaign
       daily, join the ffii-uk email list at ffii.org.uk - further
       instructions on the FFII-UK main page[43].
     _________________________________________________________________

References


   1. You have been sent this email because you have expressed concern
      about software patents in Europe, either by signing the Eurolinux
      Petition    http://noepatents.org
      and/or the FFII Call for Action
          http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/demands/
      We intend to use these lists very occasionally, to send updates
      and information alerts on the progress of the software patent
      directive through the European system.  Such messages will have
      [SWPAT] as the first word in their subject lines.

      If you would prefer not to receive any more such messages, please
      send a reply to this email with the subject line "Remove".
      Thank you for your support.

   2. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39116642,00.htm
   3. http://swpat.ffii.org/journal/03/fsfr1010/index.en.html
   4. http://www.researchineurope.org/policy/patentdirltr.htm
   5. 
http://www.greens-efa.org/pdf/documents/SoftwarePatenting/petitiontoEP_EN.pdf
   6. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/ceapme0309/index.en.html
   7. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/plen0309/deba/#framm
   8. http://elis.ugent.be/~jmaebe/swpat/why.html#ecommerce
   9. http://elis.ugent.be/~jmaebe/swpat/why.html#developers
   10. http://elis.ugent.be/~jmaebe/swpat/why.html#innovation
  11. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39116709,00.htm
  12. http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/CouncilOfMinisters
  13. 
http://register.consilium.eu.int/scripts/utfregisterDir/WebDriver.exe?MIval=result&MIlang=EN&key=REGISTER&ssf=DATE_DOCUMENT+DESC&fc=REGAISEN&srm=25&md=400&what=simple&ff_TITRE=working+intellectual+property+patents&ff_FT_TEXT=&ff_SOUS_COTE_MATIERE=&dd_DATE_REUNION=&button1=Search+Now
  14. http://www.ffii.org.uk/nov2002.html
  15. 
http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/amccarthy0302/index.en.html
  16. http://swpat.ffii.org/group/todo/index.en.html
  17. 
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+RULES-EP+20030201+RULE-080+DOC+XML+V0//EN&HNAV=Y
  18. http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/ippd/issues/softpat.htm
  19. http://swpat.ffii.org//players/uk/index.en.html
  20. http://www.ffii.org.uk/nov2002.html
  21. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/europarl0309/
  22. http://www.ffii.org.uk/hewitt.html
  23. http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/conclusions.htm
  24. 
http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/responses/comsoft/index.htm
  25. http://www.vrijschrift.org/swpat/030508_1/
  26. http://elis.ugent.be/~jmaebe/swpat/why.html#ecommerce
  27. http://elis.ugent.be/~jmaebe/swpat/why.html#developers
  28. http://elis.ugent.be/~jmaebe/swpat/why.html#innovation
  29. http://www.researchineurope.org/policy/patentdirltr.htm
  30. 
http://www.greens-efa.org/pdf/documents/SoftwarePatenting/petitiontoEP_EN.pdf
  31. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/ceapme0309/index.en.html
  32. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/plen0309/deba/#framm
  33. http://www.ffii.org.uk/nov2002.html
  34. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/stallman-patents.html
  35. http://www.ffii.org.uk/technical.html
  36. http://www.ffii.org.uk/fields_of_tech.html
  37. http://www.ffii.org.uk/interop.html
  38. http://www.ffii.org.uk/program_claims.html
  39. http://www.dti.gov.uk/ministers/ministers/timms.html
  40. http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/ippd/issues/softpat.htm
  41. http://aktiv.ffii.org/?l=en
  42. http://petition.eurolinux.org/index_html?LANG=en
  43. http://www.ffii.org.uk/index.html