125 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
125 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
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<title>
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A compulsory insurance against software patents is like firefighting with
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petrol - November 1st, 2004
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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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[2004-11-01]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20041206.html">2004-12-06</a>]
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[<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20050103.html">2005-01-03</a>]
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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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Firefighting with petrol
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</h2>
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<h3>November 1st, 2004</h3>
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<p>Dear Mr Barroso,</p>
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<p>
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The preceding European Commission (EC) was campaigning actively for the
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introduction of software patents in Europe. This campaign was against the
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information and evidence showing that this would lead to considerable
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risk to the European economies: On top of the
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<a href="/activities/swpat/letter-20040531.html">studies already known</a>,
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recent publications by
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<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/15/pwc_swpat_are_a_threat/">Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC)</a>
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and
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<a href="http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000175949.pdf">Deutsche Bank Research</a>
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further underlines the damaging consequences of software patents on
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Europe. As The Register quotes PwC: "The mild regime [...] in the past
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has led to a very innovative and competitive software industry with low
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entry barriers. A software patent, which serves to protect inventions of
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a non-technical nature, could kill the high innovation rate."
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</p>
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<p>
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The reality that software patents are becoming an innovation restriction
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may be one reason why all the parties in the German parliament objected
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to their introduction. This is the first time (which we are aware of)
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that all parties have objected in this way. Furthermore acknowledging the
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damaging effect of software patents, the latest idea of the parting
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European Commission is
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<a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent/studies/litigation_en.pdf">compulsory insurance</a>
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to limit the damage.
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This insurance would apply to both defendants and patentees. When looking
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for examples of software patent litigation that this insurance should
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protect against, one does not have to look far: Eolas Technologies sued
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Microsoft because of the infringement of a software patent in 1999.
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Meanwhile - five years and remarkable legal expenses later - the US
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Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has declared the patent invalid. There
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is no expert certain the patent would be upheld. Nevertheless Eolas
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declared they would keep fighting, there is no way to predict when this
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litigation will end. Eolas is continuing along this road without
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insurance against losing the lawsuit.
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</p>
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<p>
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In this sense, the planned compulsory insurance is like firefighting with
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petrol: We already have 30,000 software patents in Europe. Many
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compulsory insured patentees will consider the insurance as an investment
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they need a return on. Returns from software patents are reaped in
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lawsuits filed. The result: Rapidly exploding insurance premiums,
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insurance companies limiting their risk to what they can calculate, and
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in the end patentees and defendants will find themselves in a situation
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similar to one without compulsory insurance, but with one important
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difference: They will have spent an insane amount of money on a useless
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insurance and bureaucracy for its administration will have skyrocketed.
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With these developments, working on reducing bureaucracy in the European
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Commission will become a futile endeavour, but more importantly,
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innovations in the information society will be eliminated and Europe will
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not become a competitive knowlege based economy by 2010.
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</p>
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<p>
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We therefore ask you to please spare the European economy both the
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introduction of software patents (one of the most efficient road blocks
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to innovation and economic growth in the information society) and the
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madness of insurance against this needlessly created risk.
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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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