Re: [devel] MRTG dead... =(

[Alexander Bokovoy <a.bokovoy@sam-solutions.net>]

Это протест против патентов на ПО в Европе. Сайт откроется, когда протесты
завершатся.

On Fri, Sep 12, 2003 at 09:52:43PM +0400, Nikita Gergel wrote:
>                       Closed because of "Software-Patents"
> 
>    On September 22nd, 2003 the European Parliament will decide about the
>    legalisation and adoption of so-called "software patents" in Europe.
>    Software Patents are already used by large companies in other countries
>    (like the US) to put competitors out of business. This can lead to the
>    termination of many software projects such as MRTG, at least within
>    Europe.
> 
>    In Europe, 30,000 "software patents" have already been granted. Currently
>    without a legal foundation. But if the new law passes on the 22nd, the
>    patent owners can claim exclusive rights and collect license fees for
>    trivial things like "progress bars", "mouseclicks on online order forms"
>    or "the concept of scrolling within a window".
> 
>    Software developers will have to pay the "software-patentholders" for
>    using these features, even in their own, self-developed applications. This
>    has the potential of stalling the development of innovative software for
>    small and medium companies. Because the matter is so complex every
>    software author will have to get expensive legal aid to determine if his
>    self-developed software is possibly violating some "software-patents". If
>    he fails todo so, he risks expensive licensing fees being charged years
>    after the release of the software, as a patent owner suddenly discovers
>    that his invention of using "underlined text to markup a hyperlink" has
>    been used without permisson.
> 
>    Contrary to real patents, "software-patents" are, in the current draft,
>    monopolization of business ideas and methods, even without any tangible
>    technical implementation.

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-- 
/ Alexander Bokovoy
---
The major sin is the sin of being born.
		-- Samuel Beckett