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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/europes-unitary-patent.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/europes-unitary-patent.html index ebd7a7a..fd162ba 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/europes-unitary-patent.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/europes-unitary-patent.html @@ -1,17 +1,23 @@ <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> -<!-- Parent-Version: 1.90 --> -<title>Europe's “unitary patent” Could Mean Unlimited +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> +<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> +<!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays laws patents" --> +<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> +<title>Europe's “Unitary Patent” Could Mean Unlimited Software Patents - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/europes-unitary-patent.translist" --> <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> -<h2>Europe's “unitary patent” could mean unlimited -software patents</h2> -<p>by Richard Stallman<br />First published in <a -href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/22/european-unitary-patent-software-warning"> -The Guardian</a></p> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> +<!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> +<!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> +<div class="article reduced-width"> +<h2>Europe's “Unitary Patent” Could Mean Unlimited +Software Patents</h2> + +<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address> <p>Just as the US software industry is experiencing <a -href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tal-when-patents-attack">the +href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tal-when-patents-attack">the long anticipated all-out software patent wars</a> that we have anticipated, the European Union has a plan to follow the same course. When the Hargreaves report urged the UK to avoid software patents, the @@ -20,12 +26,12 @@ UK had already approved plan that is likely to impose them on UK.</p> <p>Software patents are dangerous to software developers because they impose monopolies on software ideas. It is not feasible or safe to develop nontrivial software if you must thread a maze of patents. See -“Software Patents and Literary Patents”, Guardian, June 20, -2005.</p> +“<a href="/philosophy/software-literary-patents.html">Software +Patents and Literary Patents</a>.”</p> <p>Every program combines many ideas; a large program implements thousands of them. Google recently estimated there <a -href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/04/apple-patents-android-expensive-google">might +href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/04/apple-patents-android-expensive-google">might be 250,000 patented ideas</a> in a smartphone. I find that figure plausible because in 2004 I estimated that the GNU/Linux operating system implemented around 100,000 actually patented ideas. (Linux, the @@ -42,8 +48,8 @@ them, but the Council of Europe had undone those amendments.</p> <p>The Commission's text was written in a sneaky way: when read by laymen, it appeared to forbid patents on pure software ideas, because it required a patent application to have a physical aspect. However, it -did not require the “inventive step”, the advance that -constitutes a patentable “invention”, to be physical.</p> +did not require the “inventive step,” the advance that +constitutes a patentable “invention,” to be physical.</p> <p>This meant that a patent application could present the required physical aspect just by mentioning the usual physical elements of the computer on @@ -86,7 +92,7 @@ life as it can get away with. With external limits (such as national courts) removed, the EPO could impose software patents, or any other controversial kind of patents. For instance, if it chooses to decide that natural genes are patentable, as <a -href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110729/16573515324/appeals-court-says-genes-are-patentable-because-theyre-separate-your-dna.shtml">a +href="https://www.techdirt.com/2011/07/29/appeals-court-says-genes-are-patentable-because-theyre-separate-your-dna/">a US appeals court just did</a>, no one could reverse that decision except perhaps the European Court of Justice.</p> @@ -95,7 +101,7 @@ been made, and can be seen in action. The EPO has issued tens of thousands of software patents, in contempt for the treaty that established it. (See “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190120193501/https://webshop.ffii.org/">Your -web shop is patented</a>”.) At present, though, each state decides +web shop is patented</a>.”) At present, though, each state decides whether those patents are valid. If the unitary patent system is adopted and the EPO gets unchecked power to decide, Europe will get US-style patent wars.</p> @@ -116,13 +122,13 @@ are not worth a disaster; harmonization is a misguided goal if it means doing things wrong everywhere.</p> <p>The UK government seems to wish for the disaster, since <a -href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140603093549/http://www.ipo.gov.uk/commissairebarnier.pdf">it stated in +href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20140603093549/http://www.ipo.gov.uk/commissairebarnier.pdf">it stated in December 2010 [archived]</a> that it wanted the ECJ not have a say over the system. Will the government listen to Hargreaves and change its mind about this plan? Britons must insist on this.</p> <p>More information about the drawbacks and legal flaws of this plan can be -found in <a href="http://unitary-patent.eu">unitary-patent.eu</a>.</p> +found in <a href="https://www.unitary-patent.eu/">unitary-patent.eu</a>.</p> <p>You will note that the term “intellectual property” has not been used in this article. That term spreads confusion because it is @@ -131,11 +137,19 @@ and copyright law, they are so different in their requirements and effects that generalizing about the two is a mistake. Absolutely nothing in this article pertains to copyright law. To avoid leading people to generalize about disparate laws, I never use the term -“intellectual property”, and I never miss it either.</p> +“intellectual property,” and I never miss it either.</p> + +<div class="infobox extra" role="complementary"> +<hr /> +<p>First published in <a +href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/22/european-unitary-patent-software-warning"> +<cite>The Guardian</cite></a></p> +</div> +</div> </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> -<div id="footer"> +<div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> <div class="unprintable"> <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to @@ -153,13 +167,13 @@ to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> - <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of our web pages, see <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a>. --> Please see the <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations -README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article.</p> </div> @@ -180,7 +194,7 @@ of this article.</p> There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> -<p>Copyright © 2011, 2019 Richard Stallman</p> +<p>Copyright © 2011, 2022 Richard Stallman</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative @@ -190,10 +204,10 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2019/12/30 11:28:30 $ +$Date: 2022/04/12 11:15:30 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> -</div> +</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> </body> </html> |