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Poland Blocks European Software Patent Vote, For Now
Anonymous Brave Guy writes "Thanks to the Polish Minister of Science and Information Technology, Wlodzimierz Marcinski, Europe has dropped the current proposal for software patents. He made a special journey to Brussels to withdraw the proposal, basically in protest at the way the patents were being pushed through by the back door. Since the European presidency is about to pass to Luxembourg, this has effectively killed the idea, at least for the immediate future." More at FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure). This means that the promised move to delay actually worked.
Luckily some people still vote right
Maybe the EU saying no to software patents will have some sort of influence on the US. Especially if people in Europe could make it a point of contention.
EU readers please Thank Poland!
Are there software patents in Canada?
That is twice now they hav saved Europe's ass. Being the first to break the German's Enigma machine and now this.
Granted in the whole scheme of things, that first one might have been a little more important.
So I never understood this, why does Poland seem to end up being the butt of jokes? Or is that just a US thing?
Its unlikely that Poland would have done this as a pure solo effort, for fear of a backlash. There must have been others behind the scene agreeing with the position, with Poland making the defiant stance.
Does this mean that Poland acted as the front for a number of smaller countries. Or did a politician REALLY make a stand based on principle against all commers.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
He made a special journey to Brussels to withdraw the proposal, basically in protest at the way the patents were being pushed through by the back door
:-/
Cool, someone got it.
Here's hoping this action by Poland will make MORE clueless ministers go "huh? why did he feel it so necessary to stop that" and actually start reading up on the subject.
I fear the software giants will bring up this over and over again as long as EU says "no" though.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Given the recent bittorrent raids in Europe at the behest of the MPAA etc..
What agreements are there between Europe and the U.S. concerning patent law?
I know the Berne Conventions have established parity between the U.S. and Europe regarding copyright law - essentially making U.S. copyrights enforceable in Europe and visa-versa. Are there similar agreements regarding patents?
If so, European developers may not be off the hook. Sure European companies won't be able to create software patents - but that wouldn't stop Microsoft or other U.S. companies from enforcing their patents.
Is there a lawyer (or someone that passes for one) in the house?
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
And don't forget about the Battle of Vienna.
He has been an IT manager in private business and studied Mathematics - i almost wet my pants of happiness as i read his CV. :) - Heres to Wlodzimierz Marcinski!
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This is one politician i want to decide such matters as he actually has knowledge of what he is doing. Im so glad Poland is now in the EU
I wish we had politicians like him in Denmark when we decide IT politics
The Software Patent Directive has been withdrawn from the Agenda of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Have I really not been paying enough attention to realize that when people said, "it's being pushed through the back door," that this is what they meant? Or does the EU have strange, overgrown branches of government (such that Agriculture and Fisheries really does control software rulings)? Or was this just a joke from the FFII?
Up here in the upper Midwest (for me and a lot of people being Polish) the Dumb Polack (DP) jokes ended Dec. 13 1981.
I heard a couple a day or two later but it really came to a halt with that. I don't know what it was like on the east cost, but here it was like just being a Pol meant your WERE and always would be stupid
Thank You Gen. Jaruzelski
One argument I use against software patents is what happened in the 80s with the IBM PC. They had a monopoly on that particular architecture. So another company (I think it was Phoenix, please correct me) did some clean-room engineering and produced a compatible BIOS, enabling competition. Had IBM patented the BIOS, there would have been no competition and the entire PC industry could have turned out differently
Poland once again shows its resolve to stand against totalitarianism.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
This is one of the better posts I've seen on Slashdot, and about the chilling effects of software patents.
Thank you for making it. It ought to go into a compendium of the negative effects on Software Patents.
I'd only add the effects on Digital Cash as well. This was locked up until the past few years. But during the late 90's, it was a prime reason why no one else pushed the idea much. And then the company which owned the Patents folded, no less.
A case of stopping the development elsewhere; and hindering the assets that it had. Oh yeah, another classic case of how Software Patents can have a very negative effect on development.
I agree. I want the US to be part of Kyoto, and have posted extensively so on Slashdot. I also want to be realistic about the nature of our problem: those American cars contribute to much of the productivity, as well as the electricity (eg. aluminum refining is a huge electric consumer). And American power generation/consumption, largely led by California, is among the cleanest in the world. It's not clean enough, and I want the US to lead the world the way California leads the US.
The US "economy" (there are actually many here, more separated every day) represents the main problem: overconsumption and waste. Not necessarily inefficient waste of energy, but the overall waste of vast disposable unnecessary consumption. Many social problems are ignored by consuming instead, like an alcoholic from a broken home, perpetuating the problems. We need to fix those, before we've used up the resources we've already pushed to the breaking point. But exaggerating the problems, especially America's role, is a sure way to alienate the worst victims/perpetuators of these problems: the ignorant, alienated Americans who get nothing but corporate propaganda from their monopoly media. We're all connected - we need to stick together to get through this nightmare.
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make install -not war
The difference lies in the pressure from their home markets and the place where they can develop software. EU companies can safely develop their software for their home market undisturbed by considerations of patent law, and even get a few strategic patents in the US. Once they grow big enough to make the jump over the big pond, they have plenty of time to prepare themselves to cope with US patent law. They will also be big enough to start cross-licensing agreements etc. If need be, they can buy the licenses for the rights they miss. Only for the USA.
No such luck for US companies. They will have to cope with software patents from day one if they want to grow in their home market. This will hamper their growth and potentially kill their business early on. Furthermore, if they survive this and want to start selling their software abroad, they can not easily ignore patent law, even for software only sold outside of the United States. This because the software will be *developed* inside the US, and on this the patent holder can but a stop to it. Even if it's not sold in the US, patent law makes it illegal to actually manufacture it.
So if they want to make the move to the rest of the world with patent encumbered products, they'll have to move the development (design, architecture, etc.) to a place outside of the US as well. In practice they will cease being an US software company. Of course they can also obtain the necessary licenses for the patented software, but they will be competing in the rest of the world with local companies (that are not operating in the US) that do not have to pay this patent tax.
Most importantly however, certain types of software will simply not be made in the US. I personally was involved in a scheme like this, where in the early nineties I worked for a company that independently developed something that turned out to be patented in the US. The one that patented the general technique did not really build a business out of it, but the existence of the patent itself has kept all possible competition from the US at bay. Nobody would invest in anything remotely connected to it because there were litigation issues involved.
The only competitor this company has seen in the US that uses a technique similar to the one we've been using all this time went to great lengths to establish a patent of their own that was significantly different from the original patent. We however could safely develop the technique, use and sell it in Europe, grow, develop alternative techniques as a second plan, attract investors, while in the meantime we've collected sufficient prior art to annihilate this particular patent if need be. This company is now operating in the USA as well without any problem or direct competition as the US inventor has preemptively killed all US competition.
I didn't say that the US is the best at making money, therefore most environmentally friendly. What I said was that the US produces 35% of the product, with 25% of the energy. That's productivity. The hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indian people who don't produce, but endure the consequences, are also bearing the consequences of their Chinese and Indian neighbors, who pollute much more: per capita, per production, per watt, any way you slice it. In that respect, the "us" and "them" lines drawn by country are aribitrary, except as a solution to the pollution problem: national governments have the power to improve productivity per pollution. Since macroeconomics limits the total production, that means lowering pollution.
I'd like to see China and India apply California emissions standards to their cars. And I'd like to see the USA join the Kyoto regime, as a start. Later the regime, or another that follows once we're doing that kind of thing, can more agressively reduce global pollution - for example, by making India and China meet the same kinds of standards as the USA. We're already more productive per pollution, per watt, per dollar - we ought to get them to join the playing field where we can outcompete them, benefiting economically, and reduce pollution, too. The world is becoming so small that pollution control ought to reflect the same practice as a party: the reduction in smoke is determined by those most sensitive to smoke- not determined by who's got the biggest cigars.
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make install -not war