diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/guardian-article.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/guardian-article.html | 204 |
1 files changed, 204 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/guardian-article.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/guardian-article.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d606138 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/guardian-article.html @@ -0,0 +1,204 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 --> +<title>Guardian Article on Software Patents +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/guardian-article.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>Opposing The European Software Patent Directive</h2> + +<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/"><strong>Richard +Stallman</strong></a> and <strong>Nick Hill</strong></p> + +<blockquote> +<p> +The European Union software patent directive, which this 2003 article +opposed, was ultimately dropped by its own supporters after facing +lots of opposition. However, they later found another way to impose +software patents on most of Europe: through fine print in +the <a href="/philosophy/europes-unitary-patent.html">unitary +patent</a>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p> +The computer industry is threatened by a Wild West-style land grab. The +biggest, richest companies are being assisted by governments to take +unassailable exclusive control of the ideas that programmers combine to +make a program.</p> + +<p> +Our society is becoming more dependent on information technology. At +the same time, centralised control over and ownership of the +information technology field is increasing, and mega-corporations with +law-given dominion over our computers could take away our freedoms and +democracy. With an effective monopoly on modern software, the largest +grabbers of the “land” will have control over what we can +ask our computers to do, and control over production and distribution +of information on the net, through monopolies that the EU plans to +give them.</p> + +<p> +The monopolies are patents, each one restricting use of one or several +of these software ideas. We call them “software patents” +because they restrict what we programmers can make software do. How do +these monopolies work? If you wish to use your computer as a word +processor, it must follow instructions that tell it how to act like a +word processor. This is analogous to instructions found on a musical +score, which tell an orchestra how to play a symphony. The +instructions are not simple. They are made up of thousands of smaller +instructions, much like sequences of notes and chords. A symphonic +score embodies hundreds of musical ideas, and a computer program uses +hundreds or thousands of software ideas. Since each idea is abstract, +there are often different ways to describe it: thus, some ideas can be +patented in multiple ways.</p> + +<p> +The US, which has had software patents since the 1980s, shows what this can +do to development of everyday software. For example, in the US there are 39 +monopoly claims over a standard way of showing video using software +techniques (the <abbr title="Moving Picture Experts Group">MPEG</abbr> +2 format).</p> + +<p> +Since a single piece of software can embody thousands of ideas together, +and those ideas are arbitrary in scope and abstract in nature, writing +software will only be worthwhile for those who are rich and have a large +software monopoly portfolio: those with the war chest and clout to fight +off claims that might otherwise sink a business. In the US, the average +cost of defending against an invalid patent claim is $1.5 million. The +courts favour the wealthy, so even when a small business gets a few +patents, it will find them useless.</p> + +<p> +Software patents are being claimed at a tremendous rate in the US. If they +become legal in Europe, most of those US patents will be extended to +Europe also. This is likely to have a devastating effect on European +software development—leading to job losses, a poorer economy, more +expensive computer use, and less choice and less freedom for the end user. +The advocates of software patents in Europe, and the probable beneficiaries +of them, are the patent bureaucracy (more influence on more areas of life), +patent lawyers (more business from both plaintiffs and defendants), and +computer mega-corporations such as IBM and Microsoft.</p> + +<p> +Foremost among the software mega-corporations is Microsoft. Even as +part of the European commission investigates Microsoft for +monopolistic practices, another part is planning to hand it an +unending series of overlapping 20-year monopolies. Bill Gates wrote in +his Challenges and Strategy memo of May 16 1991 that</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> +If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of +today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry +would be at a complete standstill today. The solution … is +patenting as much as we can … A future start-up with no patents +of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to +impose.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p> +Today Microsoft hopes to parlay software patents into a permanent +monopoly on many areas of software.</p> + +<p> +The European commission says its proposed directive on +computer-implemented inventions will disallow software patents. But +the text was actually written by the Business Software Alliance, which +represents the largest software companies. (The commission didn't +admit this—we detected it.) It contains vague words that we +suspect are designed to open the door for software patents.</p> + +<p> +The text says that computer-related patents must make a +“technical contribution”; the commission says that means +“no software patents”. But “technical” can be +interpreted in many ways. The European patent office is already +registering software patents of dubious legal validity, defying the +treaty that governs it and the governments that established it. +Operating under those words, it will stretch them to allow all kinds +of software patents.</p> + +<p> +Arlene McCarthy, <abbr title="Member of the European Parliament">MEP</abbr> +for north-west England, has been a key figure promoting and acting as +rapporteur for this proposed directive. The cosmetic changes she has +so far proposed do nothing to solve the problem. However, the +cultural affairs commission's amendment that defines +“technical” will assure British and European software +developers that they will not risk a lawsuit simply by writing and +distributing a software package.</p> + +<p> +The vague words drafted by the mega-corporations must be replaced with +clear, decisive wording. Wording that will ensure that our information +future will not be hijacked by the interests of a few rich organisations.</p> + +<p> +Please go +to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20031216123801/http://www.softwarepatents.co.uk">http://www.softwarepatents.co.uk [Archived Page]</a> to learn more, and then talk with the <abbr>MEP</abbr>s from +your region.</p> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent +to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting 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 +of this article.</p> +</div> + +<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to + files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should + be under CC BY-ND 3.0 US. Please do NOT change or remove this + without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. + Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the + document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the + document was modified, or published. + + If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. + Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying + years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable + year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including + being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). + + There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers + Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> + +<p>Copyright © 2003 Richard M Stallman and Nicholas R Hill</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2014/04/12 12:40:10 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |