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[Fsuk-manchester] Fwd: Petition to stop software patents in Europe


From: Lucy
Subject: [Fsuk-manchester] Fwd: Petition to stop software patents in Europe
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:51:21 +0100

This is well worth reading and signing, as it seems software patents
are gradually creeping in. Also, the list of awarded patents in Europe
is interesting (and quite worrying).

There is an option to sign up as an association as well, which I think
we should do. Does anyone have an objections?



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Giacomo Poderi <address@hidden>
Date: 22 Oct 2008 08:45
Subject: Petition to stop software patents in Europe
To: address@hidden


Hi all,

 This is the link to a new campaign/petition against Swpat in Europe.

 http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/711000042650/

 Please read it and, if you deem it proper, sign it and circulate the
 link wherever possible/appropriate.

 Regards,
 Giacomo

 ===========
 Introduction

 Our petition aims to unify the voices of concerned Europeans,
 associations and companies, and calls on our politicians in Europe to
 stop patents on software with legislative clarifications.

 The patent system is misused to restrain competition for the economical
 benefit of a few but fails to promote innovation. A software market
 environment is better off with no patents on software at all. Healthy
 competition forces market players to innovate.

 European court decisions still accept in many cases the validity of the
 software patents granted by national patent offices and the European
 Patent Office (EPO) that is beyond democratic control. They not only
 continue to grant them, but also to lobby in favor of them. Despite the
 current deep crisis of the patent system, they are unable to reform and
 put at risk too many European businesses with their soft granting policy.

 On 2005 the Commission appeared to be more supportive to the interests
 of major international conglomerates than of small and medium sized
 enterprises from Europe - who are a major driving force behind European
 innovation. The European Parliament rejected at the end the software
 patent directive, but has no rights for legislative initiatives.
 Considerations
 Studies

 A large number of serious scientific and economic studies justify ruling
 out patents on software.
 Copyright for software, but no patents

 Software authors are already protected by copyright law, allowing others
 to innovate in the same space generating healthy competition, but this
 protection is undermined by patents on software. It is far too easy to
 violate patents on software whilst being completely unaware of any
 transgression. Software companies do not use and do not need the patent
 system to innovate. They must be protected from owners of dubious
 granted patents.
 Litigation instead of innovation

 Software patents miss their legitimate purpose. Patents on software
 favour litigation in detriment of innovation, defeating their democratic
 justification. They force software producers to spend on bureaucracy,
 lawsuits, and circumventing dubious granted claims on software what
 would otherwise be spent on Research and Development. Owners of patents
 on software, who sometimes doesn't produce software themselves, obtain a
 means to exert unfair control over the market.
 American mistakes

 In the USA there are billions of dollars in litigation over software
 patents each year, and not only between software companies, but also
 other companies just because they have a web site (this starts to happen
 in Europe also). This mistake needs to be avoided in Europe.
 We urge our legislators

     * to pass national legal clarifications to substantive patent law
 to rule out any software patent;
     * to invalidate all granted claims on patents that can be infringed
 by software run on programmable apparatus;
     * to also strive to propagate these rules to the European level,
 including the European Patent Convention.

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