87 satır
3.0 KiB
HTML
87 satır
3.0 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2013-04-22">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>German Parliament says: Stop Granting Software Patents</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>German Parliament says: Stop Granting Software Patents</h1>
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<p>The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has introduced
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a joint motion against software patents. The resolution urges the
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German government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on
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computer programs.
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/130/1713086.pdf">In the resolution</a>, the Parliament says that patents on software
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restrict developers from exercising their copyright privileges,
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including the right to distribute their programs as Free
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Software. They promote the creation of monopolies in the software
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market, and hurt innovation and job creation.
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<i>[Correction 2013-04-24: Parliament
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did not yet adopt the motion, but rather decided to pass it to the
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parliament committees for further consideration.]</i>
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</p>
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<p>
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"Software patents are harmful in every way, and are useless at promoting innovation", says Karsten
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Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe. "We urge
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the German government to act on this resolution as soon as possible,
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and relieve software developers from the needless patent-related costs
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and risks under which they are currently suffering."
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="/activities/swpat/swpat.html">Software patents are illegal</a> under the European Patent Convention.
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Nevertheless, the European Patent Office has granted tens of thousands
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of patents covering software. As a result, software developers constantly
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risk being accused of patent infringement. This causes legal
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uncertainty which is costly for large companies, and potentially
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deadly for small ones.
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</p>
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<p>
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The Parliament's resolution reminds the government that, under the
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EU's Computer Programs Directive, software is covered by copyright,
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not patents. It calls on the government to finally put the directive's
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"copyright approach" into practice, and make German law more concrete
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in this regard. It also points out that the restrictions which patents
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impose are incompatible with the most widely used Free Software
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licenses.
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</p>
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<p>
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For any future initiative to reform European rules on copyright and
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patents, the Parliament asks the German government to make sure that
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developers' economic exploitation rights for their programs are not
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restricted by patents. The government should also push to ensure that
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software is covered by copyright alone, and that patent offices
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(including the European Patent Office) stop granting patents on
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software.
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</p>
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<h3>More information</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/130/1713086.pdf">Joint Motion approved by the Bundestag</a> (in German, PDF)</li>
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<li><a href="/activities/swpat/swpat.html">Background on software patents</a></li>
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</ul>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="european-union"/>
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<tag key="de"/>
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<tag key="de"/>
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<tag key="swpat">Software Patents</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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