Software Patents in Europe :(

[upset_guy]

Now that the European Council passed the changes to the European patent law allowing the patentability of software, with support from Germany and France, it seems fair to say that FOSS in Europe is on its way to be royally f*ked up. Spain seems to be the only country to vote against the project.

To the European users, developers and lovers of Knoppix and Free Software: you were lied by your governments (that's not news...) who told they were to abstain or vote against these changes (e.g. Germany). Now do what you have to do, cast your votes accordingly, write letters to your MEPs and representatives, be vigilantes and keep supporting Free Software.

It's not the end of the world, but it's a huge step closer.

[garbage]

what does this actually mean for open source specifically? in what way does it damage open source software which uses unique technology?

[RE Dude]

I was also saddened by the news that software patents were institutionalized in Europe, but as an American, I'm curious how this differs from what we here in America have been enduring?

If it is similar (or the same), open source initiatives have been surviving and doing quite well here - except for the bogus SCO lawsuit. By anyone's estimation though, open source can't be stopped. On the other hand, if this is a more serious issue than the media is telling, then how will it affect us here?

Lastly, it is the belief of many that SCO is going to get their "come uppance" (sp?). IBM/Open Source will be vindicated eventually.

[upset_guy]

In the Knoppix site, it is stated very clearly (my emphasis):

Soon the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will again decide about the legalisation and adoption of so-called "software patents" in Europe, which are already used by large companies in other countries to put competitors out of business. This can lead to the termination of many software projects such as KNOPPIX, at least within Europe, because the holders of the over 30,000 already granted "software patents" (currently without a legal foundation) can claim exclusive rights and collect license fees for trivial things like "progress bars", "mouseclicks on online order forms", "scrolling within a window" and similar. That way, software developers will have to pay the "software-patentholders" for using these features, even in their own, completely self-developed applications, which can completely stall the development of innovative software for small and medium companies. Apart from this, the expense for patent inquiries and legal assistence is high, for even trying to find out if the self-developed software is possibly violating "software-patents", if you want to continue to market your software. Contrary to real patents, "software-patents" are, in the draft proposed by the commission, monopolization of business ideas and methods, even without any tangible technical implementation.

This seems much worse than the American system. To be fair, the existence of a lot of FOSS projects in the US (as RE dude points out) is a good sign. Undoubtfully, Linux will survive in the SCO case, but I fear that another litigating company can do the same, and this time there can be a patent infringement suit, not copyright infringement. Let's hope it doesn't happen.

Take a look at FFII
http://swpat.ffii.org

[user unknown]

[quote="upset_guy"...with support from Germany and France
...you were lied by your governments (that's not news...) who told they were to abstain or vote against these changes (e.g. Germany). ...[/quote]

I visited this link (which is sponsored by Microsoft) and found no reference to Germany.
I wrote an email to the two parties of government, the green party 'Die Grünen' which responded in few hours, claiming they will fight against those patents, and to the SPD - well - I guess they're sleeping...

I googled for 'Softwarepatente' and found this interesting link, giving examples
http://swpat.ffii.org/pikta/index.de.html

Replace 'de' with 'en' knoppix user are used to this excercise - or click on one of the flag-symbols, to visit a translation to your favourite language.

[windos_no_thanks]

what does this actually mean for open source specifically? in what way does it damage open source software which uses unique technology?

Patents are not like copyright, your software might be illegal even if you have written everything yoursellf without looking at anyone else's code. And software patents in particular tend to be very broad (not all of them of course but a substantial portion of them) so there's a good chance there is no way to work around some of them for some particular task.
The show is not over until the fat lady sings and at the moment she is only clearing her throat. The next step is that the directive proposal will go back to the parliament for a second reading. The members of the new parliament will be elected on the 10 - 13 of June (only one day but it varies by country, check yours). If you are a citizen in an EU member state, old enough to vote, and care about the future of open source software PLEASE find yourself a candidate who opposes sw-patents and VOTE for him/her !!

[gowator]

write to your EuroMP candidates!
Do it now...
Tell them you will NOT vote for a candidate who does not oppose SOFTWARE PATENTS 100% ...
Also tell them you will not vote for them if their PARTY doesnt condemn software patents,
tell them at the moment the situation of themselves and their party is unclear hence you are presently (regrettably) going to vote for someone else. (You can do this to all parties - they lie to us so why be honest with them!)


I worte to all my MEP candidates, when writing to my UK labour one I cc'sd Alrene McCarthy... she didnt reply like my MEP said so I emailed him again...
this time (after the Ireland fiasco she did answer)

Dear Sir

As Draftsperson for the Parliament I, along with the Parliament, voted
for
limits to the patenting of computer-implemented inventions. The Member
States i.e. the Council of Ministers have chosen to ignore Parliament’s
views, which has disappointed us greatly and we are now preparing for
some
very tough negotiations with them.

However, fortunately the Council of Ministers and the Commission cannot
ignore our views as democratically elected Members of the European
Parliament. I can assure you that the Parliament will defend its
position
and there will be no final law without the agreement of the Parliament.
If
both the Council of Ministers and the European Commission refuse to
reinsert
Parliament’s amendments, there will be no Directive. Our power on this
piece
of legislation is very strong we can modify it or block it if we choose
to
do so.

My position as Rapporteur and that of the Labour MEPs remains unchanged
and
in the negotiations I will defend Parliaments position.

· I am not in favour of patenting of software as in the US.

· Europe needs a uniform legal approach to stop the drifting towards
extending patentability to inventions, which would not have been
traditionally allowed, and to stop patentability of pure business
methods,
algorithms or mathematical methods.

· Software products as such, must not be patented.

· Opensource software must be allowed to flourish and the Commission
must
ensure that this Directive does not have any adverse effect on
opensource
software and small software developers.

· Patents and the threat of litigation must not be used as an
anti-competitive weapon to squeeze out small companies.

Furthermore I am supporting a UK campaign for a defence fund for small
companies to protect themselves from litigation abuse by dominant
market
players.


Yours sincerely

Arlene McCarthy MEP

You can influence this....
I might not vote labour, it doesnt matter I and thousdands like me have forced them to change their position. The queen of SW patents has changed her tune and is no longer pro-SW patents like in the US !!!

Write to every party.... even if you have NO intention to vote for that party it doesnt matter!

[walter_f]

Fellow "EU"ropeans,

want to know how your country's members of the EP voted Sept. 24, 2003? Just choose your country by internet country code here:

Software Patents Vote September 2003
http://www.ffii.org.uk/votes/swpat/index.html

Please consider this past evidence when deciding which list to vote for in the EP elections next sunday.

Regards,

Walter.

[walter_f]

gowator,

your views are supported by me to the fullest. I could not agree more.

Anyone reading this forum,
want to contact some (or, preferably, all) EP candidates of your country?

See some lists of candidates here:
http://plone.ffii.org/polit/mepcandidates

and, even more complete it seems, here
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/EuropeanElections

Regards,

Walter.

P.S. And don't stop spreading the word. There is still time left until the elections on sunday, and in September there has to be another vote on the SW pats topic in the EP (second reading). Until then, we all can do something to strengthen the against position.

[jgrace5]

Wouldn't it be a nicer world if people didn't go crazy over laws? Laws, laws, and more laws. Everything you do is, in some way, illegal to someone or some group who will get you in trouble, sue and make life hell. Too much security, too many rules, and too many people getting into others' busines.