It's important to ensure that problem of software patents does get blocked
and that means that the MEPs (including the Finnish ones) be made aware of
the problem.
That's less likely to happen if Joe Sixpack, Herr og Fru Hansen, Ola Dunk,
vanlig Svensson or Matti Meik�l�inen don't know about the issue.
It's not being covered by any of the mainstream, non-tech news sources
that I'm aware of, so it is necessary to bring the issue up in other
contexts. The OOo web site is as good as any for that, maybe better.
Small business associations would also benefit from being aware of what's
going on. Software patents affect anyone *using* a computer, not just
developers. Not any of them would appreciate paying an extra 50 thousand
EUR per year per patent in licensing fees just to keep doing what they've
already been doing for years. Even overturning invalid patents cost a lot
in time and legal fees. The figures for that seem to run in millions of
dollars.
The problem with only hoping that the MEPs correct the issue is that
abstentions count as a "yes" vote, so that makes it that much harder to
maintain a majority against the CIID. It shouldn't have even gotten onto
the agenda: there were objections to the CIID which, according to the EC
rules, prevents the it from being an A-item. However, it was treated as
an A-item anyway.
Back to New Zealand where software patents are a current problem and not
just a looming threat.
Regarding the XML/Wordprocessing patent in NZ specifically, it sounds a
lot like what all the XHTML pages on the web are already doing. But given
the background of the company involved, anti-trust action should be taken
since it looks like a blantant move to block competitors, especially OOo,
from reading or using MS-WordXML.
-Lars
Lars Nooden ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Software patents kill innovation and harm all Net-based business.
Keep them out of the EU by writing your MEP, keep the market open.
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005, Miikka Leskinen wrote:
> Will people become aware of that or not, that kind of stuff will never
> make it through.
>
> It'll get blocked...
>
> Miikka Leskinen
> miles_fin
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