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Demonstrations Against EU Software Patent Plans
Halo1 writes "On Wednesday August 27th, there will be a demonstration at the European Parliament in Brussels against the proposed directive on software patents, organised by the FFII. As an additional (or alternative) action, people are encouraged to participate in an online demonstration that day, replacing the main page of their website with a text explaining the dangers of introducing unlimited patentability in Europe. The proposed directive would make it impossible to refuse patents on algorithms and business methods such as a recently uncovered European patent from Amazon on ordering a gift for and automatically delivering it to a third party, which is even broader than its infamous 1-Click patent."
That's not the way the patents problem works.
.asf movies because they are patented by M$.
Interestingly, Microsoft has never taken anyone to court over patent infringement. It's not that they don't enforce them, they just do it by intimidating emails and threatening letters.
VirtualDub is a GPL'd media player. M$ told the author to remove the ability to play
Large corps can't possibly develop software without infringeing others patents so they crosslicense, thus forming patent sharing cartels that shield the Mega Corps from the problem and locking out any new competition.
The blinking cursor, and the nested menu structure are both patented. The owning companies only use the patents at strategic times. Is it possible to develop a competitive software package that doesn't have a nested menu structure?
A revolt is nearly impossible. Patents are state created private property. It's hard to regulate monopolies at the moment but it will be harder when their positions are held based on legitimate use of private property. If the EU adopts software patents, they will become a global "asset". That's when the real problem will begin.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
Who's got the time to write this up and modify their web site? Better if somebody makes up a standard page we can all copy.
/. management, please send this article into the main page...
How about these example pages?
Why isn't this article on the /. main page? If europe would say no to SWP it would send a very strong signal to the US, and maybe act as a catalyst world wide against SWP. I think this "online-event" can be a quite effective demontration if it gets adopted by _many_ sites world wide. [irony] But of course, i am dreaming now, people are way to lasy and have the politicians they deserve [/irony].
It sounds as though people already are making their voice heard on this issue. Today I was listening to a radio debate on the future of the European Parliament broadcast on BBC radio 4. (The broadcast will be repeated Saturday 10:15pm.) One of the participants, a British MEP, said she had received many messages from constituents about the new software patent directives -- proving, as she said, the importance of the EP in representing citizens' interests in EU legislation. Personally I'm in no doubt that the unofficial /. campaign against the directive was responsible for a large number of said messages.
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.