Helsinki 22 September 2003
Press release
For immediate release
Electronic
Frontier Finland – EFFI ry
Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox: Please say no for software
patents
Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox ask for strict limitations to software
patents in their letter to
the members of the European Parliament. The vote on the Directive will
be on Wednesday and it is expected to be a very close one.
Linus Torvalds comments: “The experiences from the USA demonstrate
that software patents don’t benefit anyone but perhaps the patent
lawyers. They will just weaken the market and increase spending on
patents and litigation, at the expense of technological innovation and
research.” He continues: “We hope that the members of European
Parliament see these negative sides and don’t push the same chaos to
the old continent.”
Alan Cox notes: “Currently, the companies are moving programming
jobs offshore. The huge move away from the USA is not entirely driven
by pricing but also by patent litigation and risk. Companies create a
US holding company for the intellectual property rights which licenses
it to a non-US body to write the software overseas and import it, so
as to reduce risk.” He stresses: “Adopting the same kind of patents in
the EU will drive thousands of EU programming jobs overseas, too.”
The Open Letter also strongly argues for open standards. Linus
Torvalds explains: “Without open standards it is not really possible
to develop open systems. And in the end, without open systems the
society won’t remain open for its citizens.”
In their letter, Torvalds and Cox set three requests for the
Directive. Firstly, it should clarify limits of patentability so that
computer programs and business methods really cannot be patented as
such. Secondly, the Directive should make sure that patents cannot be
abused to avoid technical competition by preventing interoperability
of competing software. Finally, the patents should not be allowed to
be used to prevent publication of information.
Electronic Frontier Finland ry (EFFI) has coordinated the campaign
against software patents in Finland. EFFI is very pleased of the
position taken by Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox. EFFI chairman
Mikko Välimäki comments: “We hope that all members of the
European Parliament now understand the real harm caused by the
software patents.”
More information:
Open letter in English:
http://www2.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox.html
Open letter in Finnish:
http://www2.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox_fi.html
Open letter in Swedish:
http://www2.effi.org/patentit/patents_torvalds_cox_sv.txt
Finnish version of this press release [expanded Finnish coverage]:
http://www2.effi.org/julkaisut/tiedotteet/lehdistotiedote-2003-09-22.html
Linus Torvalds
torvalds@osdl.org
Alan Cox
alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk
Mikko Välimäki
Chairman, Electronic Frontier Finland ry
mikko.valimaki@effi.org
+358 50 598 0498
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> is the originator and main
developer of the Linux operating system. Alan Cox
<alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> has been one of the major developers of
Linux for a long time.
Electronic Frontier Finland – EFFI ry was founded in 2001 to defend
active users and citizens of the Finnish society in the electronic
frontier. EFFI influences legislative proposals concerning
e.g. personal privacy, software patents, freedom of speech and fair
use in copyright law. We make statements, press releases and
participate actively in actual public policy and legal
discussions. EFFI has been featured in the national media including
TV, radio and leading newspapers. EFFI also works in close cooperation
with organizations sharing the same goals and values in the Europe,
United States and elsewhere. EFFI is a founding member of the European
Digital Rights and a member of Global Internet Liberty Campaign. More
information from EFFI’s home pages: http://www2.effi.org/
[Note: After this press release the letter has been translated to French, German and
Spanish
in addition to the languages mentioned in the press release. -Janne Nikula,
5th October 2003]