163 lines
5.6 KiB
HTML
163 lines
5.6 KiB
HTML
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<title>Open letter to Prof. Köhler on software patents - May 31st, 2004</title>
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<center><h1>Software Patents in Europe</h1>
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/swpat.html">Introduction</a> | <a
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href="/projects/swpat/background.html">Background</a> | <a
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href="/projects/swpat/status.html">Status</a> | <a
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href="/projects/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="/projects/swpat/letter-20040510.html">2004-05-10</a>]
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[2004-05-31]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20040706.html">2004-07-06</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20040802.html">2004-08-02</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20040906.html">2004-09-06</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20041004.html">2004-10-04</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20041101.html">2004-11-01</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20041206.html">2004-12-06</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20050103.html">2005-01-03</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20050207.html">2005-02-07</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20050307.html">2005-03-07</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20050405.html">2005-04-05</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20050502.html">2005-05-02</a>]
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[<a href="/projects/swpat/letter-20050606.html">2005-06-06</a>]
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</center>
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<h2>Open letter to Prof. Köhler on software patents</h2>
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<h3>May 31st, 2004</h3>
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<p>Dear Professor Köhler,</p>
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<p>
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"Germany needs to become a country of ideas,"
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you said after your election. You did not ask
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to patent these ideas. Rightly so, in our
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opinion. This liberal attitude offers the only
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way to reach the Lisbon aim of states and
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heads of government becoming the "most
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competitive knowledge-based economy" by 2010.
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</p>
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<p>
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But in fact Europe - with massive support from
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Germany is undertaking the precise opposite
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to what should be done. In mid-May, the Council
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of Ministers affirmed that it would put through
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a bill permitting the the sueing of someone for
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royalties from software patents. This is
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contrary to the recommendations of thirty European professors of computer
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science<a name="ref1" href="#fn1"><sup>1</sup></a>; the German
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Monopolkommission (an organisation which writes
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regular reports for the Federal Government on the
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state of competition)<a name="ref2" href="#fn2"><sup>2</sup></a>;
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MIT<a name="ref3" href="#fn3"><sup>3</sup></a>; the Boston
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University School of Law<a name="ref4" href="#fn4"><sup>4</sup></a>;
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and experts in politics, business and economics<a name="ref5" href="#fn5"><sup>5</sup></a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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Software patents do not patent software programs
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but the idea behind (the source code is protected
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by copyright), and they hinder software developers
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from entering prohibited creative areas when they
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are late to patent themselves. This is why they
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should be called software-idea patents.
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</p>
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<p>
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I would like to demonstrate the damage which is
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caused to the economy, the state and society with
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three examples. Had patents on ideas existed in
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the eighteenth century, Joseph Haydn might have
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patented "a piece of music consisting of four
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movements including singing and melody". The
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consequence: Haydn might have requested any amount
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of licence fees for any of Mozart's forty-one
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symphonies.
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</p>
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<p>
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Today matters are similar. Internet telephone is
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expected to quadruple its turnover until 2007: a
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real growth market indeed. In the United States
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there are 880 patents dealing with IP telephony.
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A vast prohibited creative area is developing
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which will hinder new solutions.
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</p>
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<p>
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This would be as if Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor
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of the World Wide Web, had wanted to patent his
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unique idea in 1989: had he done so, the World
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Wide Web would be open only to a small,
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financially-strong, club of chosen people.
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</p>
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<p>
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Of course we agree with you that society must
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reward the performance of a software developer
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adequately, otherwise the stimulus to make his
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abilities available to society is missing. But
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we have a strong copyright law to protect
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software. Additional software patents are more
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likely to be an impediment.
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</p>
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<p>With the best wishes for your coming presidency</p>
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<div align="left">
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<a href="/about/greve/">Georg Greve</a><br />
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Free Software Foundation Europe<br />
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<a href="http://www.fsfeurope.org">www.fsfeurope.org</a>
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</div>
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<hr />
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<dl>
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<dt>
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<a name="fn1" href="#ref1"><sup>1</sup></a>
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<a href="http://www.greens-efa.org/pdf/documents/SoftwarePatenting/petitiontoEP_EN.pdf">
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http://www.greens-efa.org/pdf/documents/SoftwarePatenting/petitiontoEP_EN.pdf</a>
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</dt>
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<dt>
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<a name="fn2" href="#ref2"><sup>2</sup></a>
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<a href="http://swpat.ffii.org/archiv/zitate/index.de.html#mopoko0207">
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http://swpat.ffii.org/archiv/zitate/index.de.html#mopoko0207</a>
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</dt>
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<dt>
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<a name="fn3" href="#ref3"><sup>3</sup></a>
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<a href="http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf">
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http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf</a>
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</dt>
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<dt>
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<a name="fn4" href="#ref4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<a href="http://www.researchoninnovation.org/swpat.pdf">
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http://www.researchoninnovation.org/swpat.pdf</a>
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</dt>
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<dt>
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<a name="fn5" href="#ref5"><sup>5</sup></a>
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<a href="http://swpat.ffii.org/archiv/zitate/index.de.html">
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http://swpat.ffii.org/archiv/zitate/index.de.html</a>
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</dt>
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</dl>
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</body>
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<timestamp>$Date$ $Author$</timestamp>
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</html>
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