-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Read RMS in WIRED on patents Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:50:06 -0400 From: Free Software Foundation <[email protected]>
Hello, Yesterday /WIRED Magazine/ published RMS's newest article on software patents. In "Let’s Limit the Effect of Software Patents, Since We Can’t Eliminate Them," Richard Stallman points out the failings of familiar half-baked attempts at reforming software patents and proposes a new solution that cuts to the core of the problem. You can read the article at: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/11/richard-stallman-software-patents/ This approach doesn’t entirely invalidate existing computational idea patents, because they would continue to apply to implementations using special-purpose hardware. This is an advantage because it eliminates an argument against the legal validity of the plan. The U.S. passed a law some years ago shielding surgeons from patent lawsuits, so that even if surgical procedures are patented, surgeons are safe. That provides a precedent for this solution. Software developers and software users need protection from patents. This is the only legislative solution that would provide full protection for all. We could then go back to competing or cooperating … without the fear that some stranger will wipe away our work. This is a radical and exciting idea, and there's already some interesting discussion around it in the article comments. We encourage you to join in and advocate for serious action against software patents. You can also help out by participating in these threads: * http://www.reddit.com/r/gnu/comments/12iq6u/rms_published_in_wired_calling_for_radical/ * http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4730158 Thanks and happy (belated) Halloween! -Zak Rogoff Campaigns Manager
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