Good evening all, I'm afraid Peter, that we will see more suing in the coming years. And "small" (Dutch / European) companies (say <5000) will never be able to pay amounts that are by now 'regular' in these kind of settlements. Microsoft paying just udner 500 million dollars for a relatively 'small' infringement just a few weeks ago.... The point is that the patent holders don't even need to sue software developers that many times. Just a few times will do. They will simply scare (end)users, by pulling them in as well! So the latter will ask the implementation companies to guarantee that the software delivered, does not brake any rule/law/regulation concerning copyrights and patents. Just try to imagine what will happen next. I'm afraid it is 'apocalyptic' at least for our ict-industry.
I've been discussing these issues with many 'small' companies and they are all (including your CEO) convinced that they can 'never, ever' give such a guarantee to a user (for 100%). And that they will also never be able to pay for an insurance against this risk. Because no one can even estimate the risks involved. There is much more to say about the subject, and I already did (article Automatiseringsgids, many contacts with politicians on the issue, etc.). Please don't underestimate the impact this regulation will have. The Dutch policy on the issue is not yet decided. Every signal will help. So I support any action in this respect. Kind regards, Jo. MMBase Foundation E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T: +31 (0)35 6288088 M: +31 (0)6 53292887 ===================== MMEvent4, TU Delft 9 juni zie: www.mmbase.org >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Behalf Of Daniel Ockeloen >Sent: woensdag 12 mei 2004 15:15 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: Friday 14 May, 10:00: protest against the european patent >laws > > > >On May 12, 2004, at 2:55 PM, Peter Reitsma wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I think that this law, if it is accepted, will proof to be totably >> unhandable for any justice system. >> The proceedings of the SCO vs. IMB case have proven how complex these >> cases can become and how much in debth >> knowledge and research efforts are required by the law enforcers. The >> sheer amount of opportunities to sue any party over breaches of any >> software patent law will be overwhelming and turn out to be impossible >> to persecute on a big scale. >> >> I do not think any clever lawmaker should want to burden the already >> overloaded justice systems anymore with this lawmaking. In case they >> will, they will be ending up withdrawing it eventually or worse: >> 'gedogen'. >> >> This is of course just another argument against this law but also a >> reason to downplay the somehwat apocalyptic fears that occasionally >> arise around this topic. >> >> Anyway, lets hope for, and actively pursue a sound decision by the >> european decision makers. >> >> Rgrds> Peter >> > >We all know they won't do alot against many (just like with music for >example) but do we who work on these opensource projects need a axe >over our heads, just knowing that (like sco) we can be sued by all >these companies making silly claims ?. Do i as a programmer want to >take that risk ? can i afford it ? > >Most programmers who work in opensource project do that partly to share >and better our world what a nice signal this will send for future >reference, We are 'allowed' by the powers that be to create technical >freespeech (the right to speak in the modern age) as long as some >weird ass company doesn't sue us over what we all agree are 99.99% >silly claims. > >At what point do we get upset ? > >Daniel. > > >
