115 lines
5.2 KiB
HTML
115 lines
5.2 KiB
HTML
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Software patents detrimental to European power supply business - December 6th, 2004
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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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[2004-12-06]
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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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Software patents detrimental to European power supply business
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</h2>
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<p>Open Letter to the President of the European electricity industry Hans Haider</p>
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<h3>December 6th, 2004</h3>
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<p>Dear Mr Haider,</p>
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<p>the European Union is on the way to introduce a legal basis for
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<a href="/activities/swpat/swpat.html">software patents</a>
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in Europe. While you may consider this a topic
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outside your daily business, it is likely to become the cause of
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serious security problems to European power supplies.</p>
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<p>The dependence of reliable power supplies on reliable software has
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steadily increased over the years and ever since the US-East Coast
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blackout of 2003 it has become a topic of public interest. Huge
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problems are often caused by small mistakes and thanks to networking
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effects, they can spread like wildfire, affecting huge areas.</p>
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<p>One of the ideas to counter such developments was recently
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<a href="http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PRLTAO000093000009098701000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=Yes">
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proposed</a> by Adilson Enio Motter, guest scientist at the
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<a href="http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/">Max Planck</a> Institute for
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Complex Systems Physics: His proposal is to stop the problem spreading by
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selective shutdown of a few critical crosspoints.</p>
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<p>If the software patent directive is adopted in its current form, it
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would be possible to apply for a software patent on the so-called
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"control of cascade" -- regardless of whether the patentee has
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implemented a solution to the idea or not. Anyone who has a solution
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to implement this idea needs the permission of the patent holder,
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which the patent holder is able to give or refuse.</p>
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<p>There will be many other examples for ideas that fundamentally affect
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the security of software systems controlling the European power supply
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and software in general -- as the methods to make computer systems
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secure are limited. It is impossible to avoid software patents
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completely as computer programs contain thousands of ideas, all of
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which should be patentable according to the directive, you will most
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likely only learn of the particular patents once your solutions have
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entered the production environment and your legal department receives
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the bill.</p>
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<p>Not only does this contradict the draft directive on the security of our
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electricity supplies, which was passed by the European Council on
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<a href="http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-131147-16&type=LinksDossier">
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Monday 22nd of November 2004</a>, it would make each of the European
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power supply companies vulnerable to legal attacks by specialised
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software patent companies and law-firms seeking to maximise their
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revenue. This seems detrimental to Europe as a region and to the
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European power supply business, which is why we would like to ask for
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your support in our struggle against software patents in Europe. Please
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do not hesitate to contact us should you need further information.</p>
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<p>With kind regards,</p>
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<p>
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<a href="/about/people/greve/index.html">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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