[dundee] Software Patents

[Conor]

>>
>> Can the document be pasted into the body of the e-mail and sent to me 
>> that
>> way?
>
>
>

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