MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-05-30 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] RMS on software patents
|
Title
Stallman: Nokia's patent
announcement next to
nothing
Date
2005.05.30 7:51
Author
Richard Stallman
Topic
http://trends.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/30/1155209
Last year IBM took a significant step forward in cooperation with the
free software community, by offering blanket licenses for 500 of its
patents to all free software developers. These are but a fraction of
IBM's software patents, but still it was a substantial step. These 500
patents, at least, are no longer a danger to free software developers.
Since then, various other companies have been exploring how little they
can give to the free software community and still pose as our
supporters.
In January it was Sun's turn. Sun's announcement, if read quickly,
appeared to say Sun had authorized free software developers to practice
thousands of software patents. In fact, the announcement didn't really
give anyone anything. Sun merely reminded us that Solaris is free
software and that Sun would not sue us for using that. However, all
other free software projects still face the threat of patent lawsuits
from Sun.
This week it was Nokia's turn. Nokia announced it would not use its
patents to attack the developers of one specific free software project:
the kernel Linux, developed by Linus Torvalds and others, which is most
prominently used as the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system.
Unlike Sun's empty gesture, this isn't nothing. It is good to know that
one important free software project will not be attacked by this
particular megacorporation. But the Free Software Directory lists over
4,000 free software packages. Nokia's announcement says nothing about
them, so they still face the potential threat of being attacked by Nokia
in the future. Nokia's announcement isn't nothing, but it is next to
nothing.
We can honestly thank IBM for agreeing not to sue us with 500 of its
patents, and we can thank Nokia too for agreeing not to attack one of
our community's projects. But don't be distracted from the real issue at
stake. Nokia most likely intends to use this announcement as a way to
put us in more danger.
Nokia, along with IBM and Microsoft, is lobbying hard for software
patents in Europe. Nokia will surely point to its own small gesture as
"proof" that software patents will not be devastating to free software.
In fact it proves just the opposite. If Nokia's pledge not to attack a
single free software project amounts to anything, it shows that Nokia's
continued threat to all other free software projects amounts to real
danger. And so does the threat from many other patent holders, most of
which have not pledged even the slightest support to our community.
In effect, Nokia is lobbying the European Union to give Nokia and many
others a new kind of weapon to shoot at software authors and users
with--and telling the legislators, "Don't worry, it's safe to let
private armies carry these guns, because we promise that our gunmen
won't shoot anyone in that building."
The danger of software patents is not limited to free software.
Developers of proprietary software (and its users) can also be sued for
patent infringement. But the majority of software is private-use
software, developed for and used by one client. Its developers (and its
users) also face software patent lawsuits. This is why most businesses
in Europe are against software patents--a recent German government study
found 85% opposition. But the megacorporations are spending lots of
money to lull the European Parliament into ignoring all opinion except
theirs. They frequently offer false and irrational arguments, hoping
that the legislators won't recognize the error and that no one else will
point it out to them.
To prevent the imposition of software patents in the EU we will need 50%
of the members of the European Parliament to vote against them.
Convincing these members requires lots of phone calls. (A phone call is
much more effective than email.) Citizens of the European Union, please
telephone each one of the members of the European Parliament in your
region, and say you want them to support the JURI committee and vote
against software patents. If they say that the directive won't authorize
software patents, educate them based on the information you can find in
ffii.org. That site offers advice on how to communicate with MEPs,
useful arguments and facts, and background information.
PS. If you can present me with a copy of a real threat letter that was
sent by a patent holder to a free software developer, that would be
useful.
Copyright 2005 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted
worldwide without royalty in any medium provided this notice is
preserved.
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