schlitt.info - php, photography and private stuff
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:Author: 		Tobias Schlitt
:Date:			Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:29:46 +0100
:Revision: 		1
:Copyright:		CC by-nc-sa


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eZ Systems against software patents
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:Description:
    Quoting Aleksander Farstad, CEO of eZ Systems:

Quoting Aleksander Farstad, CEO of `eZ Systems`__:

.. __: http://www.ez.no

"''As a company, we have made an official decision to be against software
patents - they go against our principles of openness, sharing and innovation
and have a strong potential to harm our business.

As many of you know, there is currently a draft directive to allow
software patents within the EU.

Our position against software patents is based on a many things:

- the lack of suitability of patents to software innovations
- the massive potential for abuse of software patents
- the imprecise language used in the directive
- the broadness of the language used in the directive
- the conflation of non-patentable ideas with software patents

In particular, these issues give us the most concern for our business:

The patent office lacks the resources to effectively analyze if work is
or is not innovative. The mere existence of software patents will
lead to their abuse - the US patent office's activities clearly demonstrates
this, as do various nonsense patents already granted by European patent
offices.

More info about nonsense patents, visit the `FFII`__.

.. __: http://webshop.ffii.org/

These are patents currently granted in Europe (which, in theory, does
not allow software patents).

Also, while we believe that our work is mostly our own innovation or
is based on technology that is obvious to a person skilled in the art, we do
not have the resources to (or want to):

- to defend ourselves against nonsense patent litigation
- license multiple patents
- register and defend a significant patent portfolio.''"

**Thanks a lot to eZ systems for supporting the fight against software patents
in Europe!**


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