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Torvalds And Cox Write EU Parliament On Patents

Posted by timothy on from the sorry-we-patented-writing-already dept.

replicant_deckard writes "Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox have sent an open letter to the members of the European Parliament. They ask for strict limitations to software patents, argue for open standards and ask the members of the parliament to follow FFII's voting recommendations. Vote on the controversial software patents directive will be on Wednesday and it is expected to be a very close one. Well, do you believe these guys have any impact in Brussels?"

9 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. patents for software = bad by potpie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I understand that one can patent a process for doing something, but one can also patent an end-product. A program is an end-product of the source code used to compile it, so wouldn't software patents, in effect, cause the much feared "functionality similarity" disputes to become more substantive in the legal system?

    --
    Esoteric reference.
    1. Re:patents for software = bad by donnz · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Find a software patent and read it.

      They are scary in that they often take a well understoof process and one that has often been computerised in the past. Then they write a bad "functional specification" and whack the words "internet" or online in there. Suddenly half your clients are receiving threatening letters from Canada for going about their daily business and the IP lawyers are making hay. It is all very fucking annoying and a huge increase in the cost of doing business. I's rather have the small loss of an occassopnal "functional similarity" dust up than this.

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      -- Free software on every PC on every desk
  2. Credentials by Foxxz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Before you start the main purpose and body of the letter you might explain why you are a crediable person to listen to. If they aren't particularly technically inclined then they may have no idea who you are. Tell them who are are, why you are important, and why they should listen to you. Without that, you usually loose your influence.

    -Foxxz

  3. Re:sure they have an impact by Sanity · · Score: 5, Interesting
    its unlike the directive passes.
    Um, wrong. Those who understand this process generally feel that it will pass - MEPs consider it a complete waste of resources to vote down a bill that has taken months to prepare, and greatly prefer that the bill be modified rather than disposed of completely.

    So in this case, the only question is whether it can be amended to address our concerns - it will almost certainly pass one way or the other.

    And if it does ... so what? It is canceled in less then 5 years because of the trouble we will get here in europe with EXISTING foreign software patents.
    Dream on! Your brand of apathy is exactly what we don't need right now. If the large software vendors can change the law to what suits them, then they can certainly stop us from changing it back in 5 years. This is our best, and possibly our last real chance to stop the damage being done to immigration by the unholy alliance of intellectual property lawyers, keen to milk the industry for legal fees, and the monopolists of the software industry, keen to let IP lawyers milk their smaller competitors dry.
  4. I thought Linus was 'just a hacker'? by heyitsme · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Linus has always maintained his reputation as a simple hacker-- someone not concerned with politics but rather technology.

    This is the second such letter bearing a Torvalds .sig

    Is this the start of a new (albeit, not necessarily bad) trend of more coders voicing their opinions on IP law and its current state of affairs?

  5. Re:I wish I could say it'll make a difference... by Coryoth · · Score: 5, Interesting
    That's why I don't think we who value our basic liberties have much time left. Others might ask why I haven't moved (I live in the U.S.), without realizing that there really isn't any place on the globe worth moving to.


    While not perfect, New Zealand is at least making some steps in the right direction. The Government is currently (albeit very slowly) looking at restricting the power of software patents. This came after a Canadian company sued a whole bunch of NZ online retailers for patent violations. Apparently they had a patent on automatically calculating shipping and currency conversion. The NZ companies balked and said shipping currency conversion was kind of obvious, especially when most buyers from a NZ online website will be from overseas. They have banded together to fight the legal action, and given that this amounted to a large chunk of NZs online retail operators, they successfully lobbied the government to look into this sort of thing.


    As I say, it isn't perfect. The government hasn't DONE anything. But they are at least looking at it - that is, things are at least heading in the right direction for once. New Zealand has also successfully dodged a DMCA look alike so far after heavy public submissions when the government was looking at digital copyright.


    Jedidiah

    --
    Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
  6. What can Americans do? by user555 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I agree that software patents are a bad idea and I would like to do something to stop Europe from having software patents.

    However, I'm not a citzen of the EU.

    I don't expect politicians to care about the opinions of those who can't vote in their country.

    But perhaps someone with more knowledge of the situation can suggest a way for me and other Americans to help.

  7. Poor grammar? by cca93014 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it just me, or does anyone else find the grammar, scanning and structure of this letter as very, very poor indeed?

    Not only is there no explanation as to who the signatories are but also a number of the sentences scan very badly indeed.

    I realise that LT is not a native English speaker, but really, it doesn't come across as very well thought through IMHO...

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    Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting

  8. A patent policy aimed at interoperability by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting
    There are three real issues with software patents that could be fixed.

    First, the interaction between patent law and antitrust law needs to be adjusted. If you have a dominant market position, you should't be able to use a patent to prevent interoperability with your de-facto standards. This is an antitrust issue because it's only a big problem when someone has market dominance. Interoperability with Microsoft Word is important. Interoperability with AbiWord is not.

    This is not totally out of reach politically. Current antitrust law in the US and the EU arguably support this position, but enforcement is hard. A bright-line standard would help here.

    Second, it needs to be clearly established that Government-mandated standards (ANSI, ISO, DIN, EU) preempt patents unless patent holders object prior to the issuance of the standard. The government standards organizations should be directed to adopt policies preventing the use of patented technology in standards unless the patent holder waives their rights under patent for all users of the standard.

    Finally, "business method" patents seem to have been a mistake. However, the first one (4,346,442, the Merrill Lynch Cash Management Account, attaching a credit card to a brokerage account) has already expired.

    These things do time out, and soon enough that it matters. The GIF patent has expired. The RSA patent has expired. The SyncSort patent has expired. All those technologies are still in use.