[smc-discuss] Fwd: Read RMS in WIRED on patents

[Anivar Aravind]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Read RMS in WIRED on patents
Date: 	Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:50:06 -0400
From: 	Free Software Foundation <info at fsf.org>



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
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 914 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.smc.org.in/pipermail/discuss-smc.org.in/attachments/20121103/516cc41b/signature-0002.asc>