Torvalds to EU: Make software patents illegal
W. David Gardner
EE Times
11/29/2004, 9:00 AM ET
Manhasset, N.Y. — As the European Union Council prepared to take up an important software-patent issue last week, a group of open-source software pioneers, led by Linux developer Linus Torvalds, issued an appeal to the council to block the legalization of software patents because they are "deceptive, dangerous and democratically illegitimate."
Torvalds was joined by Michael Widenius, developer of MySQL database, and Rasmus Lerdorf, the developer of the PHP programming language. The statement was published on the nosoftwarepatents.com Web site last Tuesday.
The site campaigns against the legalization of software patents and is said to operate independently of political organizations and parties. It is run by Florian M¼ller, a software industry veteran who's an adviser to the CEO of MySQL AB, Europe's largest open-source software company.
Galvanizing comments?
The issue has engaged the European computer community for several weeks. Last week Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, speaking in Singapore to Asian government leaders, warned that Linux violated more than 200 patents. "People in the EU were shocked by Ballmer's comments," M¼ller said in an interview. "We believe Ballmer's statements will heavily influence the Europeans. He did us a great favor."
According to a Reuters news service report, Ballmer told his audience in Singapore that governments thinking of using Linux risked being sued. He did not say that Microsoft might sue, however.
The software-IP issue before the 25-country EU is complex, with different countries weighing in on different sides of the issue. Essentially, the EU could continue its current patent policy, which most observers consider to be vague, or it could legalize patents. According to M¼ller, legalization of software patents could lead to increased enforcement.
The draft directive on software patents that is before the EU Council this week has been assigned "nonsupport" status by Poland, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Austria, said M¼ller, noting that opposition to the proposed directive seems to be growing. Generally, the open-source industry favors copyright protection over patent protection.
"Software patents are dangerous to the economy at large, and particularly to the European economy," the open-source pioneers said in their statement. "Copyrights serve software authors, while patents potentially deprive them of their own independent creations." |
