UK public comment on important issues, due April 21

[John Sullivan]

The UK government has called for public comment[1] on certain
copyright and patent issues, some of which are of great importance to
the free software community, such as

Copyright -- Digital Restrictions Management
    (Free software to access DRM'd media must be permitted.)
How "IP" is awarded
    (Software patents should never be issued.)

Since all answers will be posted on their web site, a large number of
responses from our community will show up. So please email a response
(deadline April 21), and pass the word on to others.

The request for comment embodies the biased assumptions and
overgeneralization[2] of the term "intellectual property". (It is a
mistake to lump copyrights and patents together as if they were
similar.) We suggest that you avoid adopting that term in your
response.

[1] http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/978/9B/gowers_callforevidence230206.pdf
[2] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml

-- 
John Sullivan
Program Administrator        | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23    
51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl.  | Fax:   (617)542-2652     
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