[dundee] Software Patents

[Ray Klassen]

Dear Mr. Hudghton

	I am a Canadian pursuing a career as a missionary here in Scotland. I was 
recently surprised to find that as a Commonwealth Citizen, I also am allowed 
to vote in elections in the UK. Therefore my opinion as voter should mean 
something to you as my MEP. I want to add my voice to a groundswell against 
allowing Software Patents in the EU. Before I came to Scotland, I worked as a 
computer consultant and I keep abreast of that industry even now, on a hobby 
basis. 
	From my knowledge of the industry, I can tell you that software patents have 
a severely stifling effect on invention and innovation, the very things that 
Patents are supposed to protect. In the case of software, every innovation is 
based on previous innovation. Patents would give power to large companies, 
such as Microsoft, to scare away developers from using new ideas as they come 
along. It is already clear to computer users around the world how having a 
single source for most software-- I refer again to Microsoft-- has 
proliferated viruses and other harmful software that leaves them vulnerable 
to attacks that most users do not even understand. 
	Philosophically speaking software patenting gives the patent holder unjust 
power over the uses to which I put my computer, by controlling what binary 
commands I may give to the computer, what sequence I may give them and what 
result I may achieve. It would be the same as an animal trainer telling me I 
am not allowed to teach the same trick he uses, to my dog, because it's 
patented. I don't believe one software developer should have the power to do 
that to another. I do not refer here to plagiarizing copyrighted works. If 
two separately developed software works produce the same results, that should 
be legal. 
	I also believe that file formats should be allowed to stay open and not 
controlled. If companies who are concerned with protecting digital rights 
management cannot develop file formats that protect the file from reverse 
engineering, they should not, be allowed to seek protection through 
legislation, as they have in the U.S. through the infamous DMCA. (DIgital 
Millenium Copyright Act) 
	Therefore I ask you, as I believe you are MEP for my region (I reside in 
Arbroath), as much as in your power, to block any attempt to pass legislation 
allowing software patenting in any form. Software patents have already 
fostered a climate of fear of litigation among developers in the US that 
Europe could certainly do without.



Ray Klassen
13 Townhead Rd 
Arbroath Angus UK
DD11 1SZ
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