[ILUG-Social] Legislative Alert

[Edward Humphrey]

Legislative Alert
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According to Eurolinux, on Thursday Feb. 20th, the European Commission 
published a draft for enacting software patents in Europe similar to
the U.S. system. The draft was authored by a director of the B.S.A. 
(the Business Software Alliance is an anti-piracy alliance dominated 
by Microsoft).
http://petition.eurolinux.org/pr/pr17.html

The proposal:
- Introduces unlimited patentability on *all* abstract ideas, especially
those of the Amazon "One Click" and BT "Hyperlink" type
- Legalizes 30000 patents on "computer-implementable inventions"
(i.e. abstract rules disguised in computing jargon)
- Undermines the copyright property on which the European software
industry has been thriving
- Allows standards to be monopolized, denying Open Source software, 
shareware and SMEs entry to markets, charging "per-use" fees even from
creators and users of multimedia content (MPEG 4 will cost 0.02 EUR
per hour)
- Erodes software innovation in Europe
- Transfers several billion euros from the software industry to the
people in charge of the directive proposal in Brussels
- Weakens elementary rights of citizens in the information society

This far reaching maneuver in Brussels deserves everyone's attention.
Please take a moment to sign EuroLinux's "Petition for a Software 
Patent-Free Europe", and also warn your local government, elected 
politicians, and journalists about this dangerous proposal.
http://petition.eurolinux.org/