181 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
181 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>
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Software Patents -- a danger to democracy - 06 June 2005
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</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<center>
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<h1>Software Patents in Europe</h1>
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[ <a href="/activities/swpat/swpat.html">Introduction</a>
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| <a href="/activities/swpat/background.html">Background</a>
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| <a href="/activities/swpat/status.html">Status</a>
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| <a href="/activities/swpat/documents.html">Further Reading</a> ]
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</center>
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<br />
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<center>
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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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[<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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[2005-06-06]
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</center>
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<h2>Software Patents -- a danger to democracy</h2>
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<h3>6 June 2005</h3>
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<p>
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Josep Borrell Fontelles is the President of the European Parliament.
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</p>
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<p>Dear President of European Parliament,</p>
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<p>
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On July 6th, European Parliament will have to decide on the "Software
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Patents" directive. By relying on undefined terms and ineffective
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limits, the text that the Council has handed to the Parliament would
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allow patents on software standards, business methods, and website
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development.
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</p>
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<p>
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Unfortunately, with all the technical and legal debates about the
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text, the real world effects of software patents are often no longer
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discussed. FSFE would like to take this opportunity to discuss five of
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the 30,000 software patents so far granted by the European Patent
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Office. These would gain additional legal grounds to be enforced
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against Europeans for 20 years. Of course, the rate of software patent
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application will also rise sharply if this directive passes in its
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current form.
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP287578">EP0287578</a>
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covers compressed audio including the "mp3" format.
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<a href="http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP933892">EP0933892</a>
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covers making videos available via the Internet.
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<a href="http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP633694">EP0633694</a>
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covers video-on-demand, such as transmission of live events.
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</p>
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<p>
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These three monopolies on common techniques for distributing
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information would gain additional legal grounds overnight. One example
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of a webpage where all three patents are being infringed is the
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"Hearings of the Commissioners-Designate" page on the Press Service
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section of the
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<a href="http://www.europarl.eu.int/press/audicom2004/index_en.htm">europarl
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website</a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP689133">EP0689133</a>
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covers the use of "tabs" on a webpage, that can be clicked to see the
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information related to the tab's label.
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<a href="http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP537100">EP0537100</a>
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covers the use of reduced-size images ("thumbnails") as clickable links
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to full sized image.
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</p>
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<p>
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The
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<a href="http://www.europarl.eu.int/code/photo_gallery/album1/default_en.htm">Conciliation
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Committee Photo Gallery</a> of the europarl website uses both of these
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techniques. Thumbnails for the photos, and tabs for the languages that
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can be chosen.
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</p>
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<p>
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If that proliferation of the patent system to include software ideas
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is not reversed, the European Parliament, and the majority of MEPs --
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most of whose websites build upon these or other patented techniques
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-- will remain patent infringers. Naturally, the political value of
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MEPs acts as a safeguard against litigation. The patent holders will
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permit the MEPs to use those techniques, or at least keep turning a
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blind eye to their infringements.
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</p>
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<p>
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This is not true for ordinary citizens and businesses, however. Their
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most economical solution is to play dumb and hope they don't catch the
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eye of a patent holder. However, something like a venture capitalist
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investment, might inspire litigious desires.
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</p>
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<p>
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All five patents are commonly infringed, generally by people who are
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unaware of the existence of the patent. If a website owner was made
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aware of the last two patents, they could redesign their website, it
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might harm their site's usability, but they could avoid those patents.
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The first three patents mentioned make it difficult to impossible to
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offer video or audio over the Internet, in any way.
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</p>
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<p>
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It is therefore up to the holder of the software patent to freely
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determine which citizen can seek and impart the first hand information
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about what their representatives are doing, and which cannot. The very
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basics of a democratic society are in danger.
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</p>
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<p>
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As is shown by the europarl website, software development is not only
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undertaken for commercial purposes. It is done for social benefit and
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for practical reasons. This is in contrast to the traditionally
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patentable fields such as pharmaceutical or machinery, where
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participation in development or distribution implies that the company
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has sufficient funding to seek legal advice and possibly defend
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themselves in court or counter-litigate if the need arises.
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</p>
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<p>
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Of the example patents above, only one is owned by a European company,
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the other four are held by non-European entities. This is roughly
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equivalent the overall situation of software patents in Europe, of
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which only 23% are held by European entities.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the interest of European democracy and economy, we encourage you to
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take a firm stand against software patents and vote for the amendments
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that define terms clearly and put a limit to the patenting of software
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ideas.
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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="/">fsfe.org</a>
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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