Linus, Monty, Rasmus: No Software Patents

Jan Wildeboer writes "The three most famous European authors of open-source software have issued an appeal against software patents on NoSoftwarePatents.com. Linus Torvalds (Linux), Michael "Monty" Widenius (MySQL) and Rasmus Lerdorf (PHP) urge the EU Council, which will convene later in the week, not to adopt a draft directive on software patents that they consider "deceptive, dangerous, and democratically illegitimate". They also call on the Internet community to express solidarity by placing NoSoftwarePatents.com links and banners on many Web sites."

Comments

It's a nice idea, but

[Fox_1]

I wonder how much mindshare it will really get at the level decisions are made it in business and government.

Re:It's a nice idea, but

[Sanity]

I wonder how much mindshare it will really get at the level decisions are made it in business and government.

As it happens, plenty. The anti-swpat movement has had a profound effect on the passage of this directive, the European Parliament, which is one half of the decision process, was essentially persuaded and introduced amendments to prevent software patents. The Council of Ministers, the other half, was initially pro-swpat, but even they are now bowing to geek pressure.

Virtually all involved parties now claim that they are against software patents, even those who are in favour of them!

It is certainly premature to declare victory, but I think the anti-swpat movement currently has the upper hand, and all because of geeks exercising direct democracy.

Re:It's a nice idea, but

[grasshoppa]

And yet, all those good things aside, I bet it still gets passed.

The beauty of being a politician is the public listens to what you say, not what you do.

So yeah, they'll make tons of noise about being against sw patents, and then silently pass it into law.

If it ever comes up, they figure ( rightly so I imagine ) that they can spin it so the other guy looks bad, and they were the knight in shining armor ( armour for those of you on the other side of the pond ).

Crossing fingers and stuff

[jmo_jon]

I really hope we don't get the same absurd laws here many other countries has adopted. Maybe with the weight of these three dudes it'll help out but I'm scpetical. Tha lack of knowledge people in power have about what they make decetions about is downright scary.

Ineffectual

[delta_avi_delta]

I'm pretty sure lots of banners and links are going to have a minimal effect. Considering that the bill will be decided by politicians, how come they don't organise an email campaign, where you can find your relevant politician, and send him an email?

Re:Ineffectual

[Anonymous Coward]

They need to tell Chirac and Schroder that Bush is for the patents. They will certainly be against it then ;-)

Re:People look out for their own self interests..

[dabadab]

"[i]rely heavily on imitating prior art.[/i]"

Just like all software written in the past 50 years. Perhaps you also heard about "standing upon
the shoulders of giants". That's how development works in general: you take an existing thing, add your own ideas and wow: there's an improved version (which someone will take and add his own ideas to make something even better).

Re:People look out for their own self interests..

[kfg]

. . .both are technologies that, for whatever their pluses, rely heavily on imitating prior art.

As do virtually all technologies. I'll point out, however, that despite popular views to the contrary software is not technology. It is mathematics.

I don't see any reason to take their views as somehow more correct or enlightened than microsoft's or IBM's might be from the other side.

So I'll go with two of the great thinkers of The Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, who were both scientists and inventors of commercial products and yet opposed the overbroad and over strong application of "intellectual property" in general, believing that ideas were for the benefit, and the property, of all mankind.

And software is nothing but an abstract idea.

KFG

not a law adopted in the U.S.

[brlewis]

The U.S. never officially adopted software patents. The U.S. Supreme Court always ruled that software for a general-purpose digital computer is not statutory material for a patent. Lower court decisions appear to have contradicted the Supreme Court, and the USPTO has certainly granted many patents like the ones the Supreme Court struck down, but software patents have never been formally legalized. If the EU formally legalizes software patents, they will precede the U.S. in doing so.