Thanks, Gary. (01)
I've signed it, and am passing it along. (02)
If I may just cite one reason why I signed, I'd say: (03)
"If the patent process were originally intended to encourage
innovation, then allowing for software patents would hurt that cause a
lot more than it would promote it." (04)
-ppy
-- (05)
Gary Richmond wrote Thu, 18 Sep 2003 09:11:23 -0400:
> I'm forwarding most of an email I received from Uta Priss
> regarding a EU vote that could profoundly effect open-source
> software in Europe. Uta wrote:
>
>> The European Parliament is voting next Tuesday on whether
>> or not to introduce US-style software patent laws in
>> Europe. This legislation would mainly help large
>> companies, who own most of the patents and can afford
>> patent lawyers. Apparently, even obvious ideas, such as
>> the progress bar used in software installation and the
>> folder look for selecting options have been patented (by
>> IBM and Adobe, respectively). This means that any
>> open-source software that happens to implement these
>> ideas, could no longer be used commercially without
>> licensing these features. It might mean that companies
>> would no longer be able to use Linux computers.
>>
>> There is a petition which can be signed (also by
>> Non-Europeans):
>>
>> http://petition.eurolinux.org/ (06)
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