EU Warning: Patentability of computer-implemented inventions

Take Action!

There's going to be a vote in the European Parliament on 1 September (originally, Monday 30 June 2003) that will have enormous implications on the worldwide software market.

It looks as though, despite widespread and deep criticism, the report will be adopted. And this will probably mean a shift of power from small software companies and the open source community to large multi-national corporations.

With patents allowed, small software companies may suddenly find themselves faced with accusations of patent infringement from IBM, Microsoft, HP, Sun etc etc. They can agree to pay a licence and see their profits slashed or go to court and spent on average £300,000 fighting the case.

The situation for Linux looks even worse. The recent trademark infringement claim by SCO against Linux has already created turmoil. The fear is that with patent law allowed, the floodgates would be opened and Linux distributors swamped and bankrupted by court claims - with Microsoft leading the charge.

Sadly, though, those who are most against the law change have only themselves to blame if it goes through - thanks to their failure to understand on a very human level how the world works and in particular how politicians work.

It is politicians who make the law, and it is politicians who need to be persuaded if the law is to move in the direction that you desire it to. But while they are a peculiar and varied breed, there are three things you can be fairly certain will not hold much sway with them:

1) Ideological argument. Politicians are nothing if not pragmatic. Their very survival is based on seeing which way the wind is blowing and adjusting accordingly
2) Little-man defence. Politicians will not risk upsetting rich and powerful people and companies unless there is a principle at stake: that principle being that the government ultimately decides. Therefore arguing a point on the basis that it will restrict or impair a powerful body is counterproductive
3) Criticism. Politicians do not respond well to criticism. In fact, the more they get, the more stubborn they become. Flattery is the surest route to their heart, and this means making them feel important. Wining and dining, listening, applauding their insight and then putting your point across

Unfortunately, every coherent and persuasive argument (and there are many) made by those opposing this change in patent law fits squarely into one of the three categories above and that is why the patent laws of the EU are set to change on Monday ?

Small companies can't defend themselves against patent court cases. Big companies can have patent-sharing agreements between themselves but say no to all the little people. Little man can't understand it all. Little man can't afford patents. Big companies will just try to shut down small competitors.

We need help!

More information can be found at:

Language: English
http://swpat.ffii.org/group/demo/index.en.html
http://swpat.ffii.org/group/todo/index.en.html

http://petition.eurolinux.org/signatures.html?LANG=en

http://www.gnu.org
Quote:
European Programmers: Please do a little work to convince the European Parliament to reject software patents. This page(http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/07/) explains the issue and provides suggestions for action; we ask that you take the time to participate.

Urgent: Please visit http://www.digitalspeech.org and help resist the media companies' campaign to impose restrictions on what your computer can do.

US Citizens: Please sign both the Petition Against Software Patents and the Anti-DMCA Petition.

http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/fsf.../msg00071.html

http://news.com.com/2100-1012-998547.html
Scientists protest EU software patents

http://www.freepatents.org/
Europe Citizens - Act Now !

patent Price info, take a look at:
http://www.european-patent-office.org/
Small companies at risk!

Language: Deutch (German)
http://swpat.ffii.org/group/todo/index.de.html
http://petition.eurolinux.org/signatures.html

Language: Français (French)
http://petition.eurolinux.org/signatures.html

Language: Dutch
http://www.tweakers.net/nieuws/28446

Language: Italian:
http://petition.eurolinux.org/signatures.html

Europian union document: http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_m...com02-92en.pdf