129 lines
5.4 KiB
HTML
129 lines
5.4 KiB
HTML
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<title>
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Software patents are putting the wealth of the software patent lobby over
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the health of citizens in Europe and around the world - 3 January 2005
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</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<center><h1>Software Patents in Europe</h1>
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/swpat.html">Introduction</a> | <a
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href="/activities/swpat/background.html">Background</a> | <a
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href="/activities/swpat/status.html">Status</a> | <a
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href="/activities/swpat/documents.html">Further Reading</a> ]
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</center>
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<br />
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<center> Open Letter
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20040510.html">2004-05-10</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20040531.html">2004-05-31</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20040706.html">2004-07-06</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20040802.html">2004-08-02</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20040906.html">2004-09-06</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20041004.html">2004-10-04</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20041101.html">2004-11-01</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20041206.html">2004-12-06</a>]
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[2005-01-03]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20050207.html">2005-02-07</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20050307.html">2005-03-07</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20050405.html">2005-04-05</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20050502.html">2005-05-02</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20050606.html">2005-06-06</a>]
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</center>
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<h2>
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Software patents are bad for your health
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</h2>
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<h3>3 January 2005</h3>
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<p>Dear Mr LEE Jong-wook,</p>
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<p>
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Software patents grant a monopoly on their specific idea. The patentee
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can grant or withhold authorisation to use that idea and unilaterally
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define the terms under which such authorisation is granted or
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withheld. This is before even a single line of source code has been
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written. In fact: lawyers are generally in a better position to obtain
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software patents than the majority of programmers are. Each program
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consists of thousands of ideas -- each of them potentially subject to
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patent claims. Even though the European Patent Convention explicitly
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excludes software from being patented, so far 30,000 software patents
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have in fact already been granted in recent years.
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</p>
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<p>
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The <a href="/activities/swpat/swpat.html">discussion</a> about a formal introduction of software patents has
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been ongoing for several years and we would like to make you aware of
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the effect of software patents on telemedicine, an area of great hope
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for many.
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</p>
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<p>
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Today, we are seeing the first steps in the telemedicine area. Instead
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of being delivered by traditional post, X-Ray scans are transferred
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electronically, reducing the availability timescale from days to
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seconds. Physicians will soon be able to monitor individual patients
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remotely, something that will in particular offer possibilities of
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increased medical coverage for people in remote areas all over the
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world. Given the demographic development in northern countries and the
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increasing medical needs of potentially wealthy elderly people; that
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particular idea was patented years ago.
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</p>
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<p>
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The database of the European Patent Office currently contains 69
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patents directly referring to "telemedicine". That seemingly low
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number should not let you rest easy. Not only is the number of
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software patents likely to skyrocket after the formal introduction of
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software patents.
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</p>
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<p>
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Each application in the field of telemedicine will also depend on
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basic software principles to function. These basic principals include
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security, networking and data storage. Security in particular is key,
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because the number of methods to make computer systems secure are
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limited. There is no compulsory licensing of software patents, so
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market tactics are likely to see many applications disappear in
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courtroom battles before they have become available to patients. In
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addition, besides having to refinance the legal costs, each
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telemedicine and remote surgery application is likely to suffer from
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known security holes and stability problems.
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</p>
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<p>
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Software patents are putting the wealth of the software patent lobby
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over the health of citizens in Europe and around the world.
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</p>
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<p>
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That is why we believe software patents will adversely affect your
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cause and are asking you to take a firm stand against software
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patents. If you have further questions, need additional information or
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would like to help us prevent software patents in Europe, please do
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not hesitate to get in touch.
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</p>
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<p>With kind regards,</p>
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<p>
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<a href="/about/people/greve/">Georg Greve</a><br />
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President<br />
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Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)<br />
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<a href="/index.html">fsfe.org</a>
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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