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| | e-patents in het europees parlement | link - 23.09.2003 17:43
Europarlement huiverig voor softwarepatent
"Het Europees parlement blijkt huiverig om octrooien toe te staan op software. Een voorstel daartoe was ingediend door eurocommissaris Bolkestein (interne markt)." Verslagje van debat vandaag:  http://nu.nl/news.jsp?n=208679&c=50
| | | 24.09.2003 09:24
Open letter by Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox to the European parliament:
http://www.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox.html
Best regards,
Kai Puolamäki
EFFI ry
* * *
This document:
http://www.effi.org/julkaisut/tiedotteet/pressrelease-2003-09-22.html
Helsinki 22 September 2003
Press release
For immediate release
Electronic Frontier Finland - EFFI ry
Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox: Please say no for software patents
Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox ask for strict limitations to software
patents in their letter to the members of the European Parliament. The
vote on the Directive will be on Wednesday and it is expected to be a
very close one.
Linus Torvalds comments: "The experiences from the USA demonstrate
that software patents don't benefit anyone but perhaps the patent
lawyers. They will just weaken the market and increase spending on
patents and litigation, at the expense of technological innovation and
research. He continues: "We hope that the members of European
Parliament see these negative sides and don't push the same chaos to
the old continent."
Alan Cox notes: "Currently, the companies are moving programming jobs
offshore. The huge move away from the USA is not entirely driven by
pricing but also by patent litigation and risk. Companies create a US
holding company for the intellectual property rights which licenses it
to a non US body to write the software overseas and import it, so as
to reduce risk." He stresses: "Adopting the same kind of patents in
the EU will drive thousands of EU programming jobs overseas, too."
The Open Letter also strongly argues for open standards. Linus
Torvalds explains: "Without open standards it is not really possible
to development open systems. And in the end, without open systems the
society won't remain open for its citizens."
In their letter, Torvalds and Cox set three requests for the
Directive. Firstly, it should clarify limits of patentability so that
computer programs and business methods really cannot be patented as
such. Secondly, the Directive should make sure that patents cannot be
abused to avoid technical competition by preventing interoperability
of competing software. Finally, the patents should not be allowed to
be used to prevent publication of information.
Electronic Frontier Finland ry (EFFI) has coordinated the campaign
against software patents in Finland. EFFI is very pleased of the
position taken by Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox. EFFI chairman Mikko
Välimäki comments: "We hope that all members of the European
Parliament now understand the real harm caused by the software
patents."
More information:
Open letter in English:
http://www.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox.html
Open letter in Finnish:
http://www.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox_fi.html
Open letter in Swedish:
http://www.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox_sv.txt
Finnish version of this press release [expanded Finnish coverage]:
http://www.effi.org/julkaisut/tiedotteet/lehdistotiedote-2003-09-22.html
Linus Torvalds
 torvalds@osdl.org
Alan Cox
alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk
Mikko Välimäki
Chairman, Electronic Frontier Finland ry
mikko.valimaki@effi.org
+358 50 598 0498
Linus Torvalds is the originator and main developer of the Linux
operating system. Alan Cox has been one of the major developers of
Linux for a long time.
Electronic Frontier Finland - EFFI ry was founded in 2001 to defend
active users and citizens of the Finnish society in the electronic
frontier. EFFI influences legislative proposals concerning e.g.
personal privacy, software patents, freedom of speech and fair use in
copyright law. We make statements, press releases and participate
actively in actual public policy and legal discussions. EFFI has been
featured in the national media including TV, radio and leading
newspapers. EFFI also works in close cooperation with organizations
sharing the same goals and values in the Europe, United States and
elsewhere. EFFI is a founding member of the European Digital Rights
and a member of Global Internet Liberty Campaign. More information
from EFFI's home pages: http://www.effi.org/
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