[Sussex] In from the wilderness...

[Geoffrey Teale]

Morning all..

It's been a while, but work has been crazy.  The process by which a
small company becomes a large one in a matter of a few years can be
neatly categorised as "a lot of hard work".  Even when growth is
carefully controlled there's still work to do just manage that process.
Having said that, it's all been great fun too - I wouldn't do it if it
wasn't:-)

Anyhow.  I'm off to Cape Town this afternoon so that gives me a few
minutes down time to mention a few things:

0.
==

The EU software patent thang is kicking off again.  Driven by a desire
for a more efficient Europe wide patent system there is a move to unify
patent law within the EU.  As a side effect of this we could see
software patenting get in through the back door.  Worryingly the
consultation questionairre that's been put out has been only done so on
an extremely limited basis, and has not been translated into all EU
languages.  It has the air of a questionairre being produced to justify
software patents rather than a genuine attempt to gather the opinions of
the public.  

The FSF in europe (and partner organisations) are already chasing this
up, but you can help too!  

Firstly, get involved in the GPL3 consultation and help us produce a
strong, *usable* replacement for GPL2  that will help prevent some of
the damage patents can do to free software.  

http://gplv3.fsf.org/

Secondly, please take the time to write to your MP or MEP and once again
remind them that software patenting is:

Not logically possible
----------------------
Software being completely dependent on the capabilitis of the hardware
on which it runs means everything is derivable - there is no case for an
"inventive step" and the "non-obvious" condition is debatable

Anti-competitve
---------------
Patents grant monopolies by design.  The pace of change in the software
industry means that a patent granted on software would essentially grant
a life time monopoloy that would generate incomes that are completely
out of proportion with the exceptionally low development costs for
software.  Compare and contrast this situation to the drug industry.
Patents work well in the drug industry because the development
timescales are huge, the product life time is generally very long, and
the development costs are astronomically high.  To cover these costs
drug companies are granted a monopoly on the sale of the drug for the
first period of it's use in order to ensure that the costs of
development can be met.  

A bad thing for EU business as a whole
--------------------------------------
Patents mean higher software prices for everyone (companies will have to
license techniques they used to use for free).
Patents will massively reduce competition in the software market by
forcing small players, (particularly open source vendors) out of some
markets.  Many EU businesses will be forced to use US vendor technology
(e.g Microsoft Windows) instead of EU based technology (Mandriva, SuSE,
Ubuntu for example).


1.
==

Many lawyers, patent officers, and other people in positions of power
don't understand technology *at all*.

This is highlighted by a recent *successful* Sun Microsystem UK patent
application.  Despite current law in the UK forbidding patents on purely
software inventions Sun managed to get a patent for the process of
converting a RISC bytecode format to CISC instructions for an x86 family
CPU.  Yes folks, Sun now hold a UK patent on the Java VM.

How did this happen?  Well it seems that they convinced the patent
officer that they designed the VM before they started writing it and
therefor it wasn't a computer invention at all.

The moral of this story is if you want a UK patent on software make sure
you mail yourself some designs on paper (to get a post-marked, sealed
copy) before you do your first CVS check-in!

Fortunately holding a patent is not the same thing as enforcing it - any
halfway decent lawyer should be able to shoot this one down.

2.
==

Whilst we're busy laughing at the stupidity of non-techy types here's a
little story to remind us that we're all idiots in someone else's
domain:

The GPL was upheld in court (and strengthened *again*) in the Wallace v.
FSF case in Indiana on Monday.  This wasn't a very high profile case (it
being bought by what we'd call a "litigant in person" in the UK), but it
made allegations that the GPL was essentially a price fixing mechanism
deliberately designed to force vendors of *ahem* "other" software out of
business.   

Whilst the case was dismissed (at the FSF's request) on procedura
grounds, the judge made a statement:

"[T]he GPL encourages, rather than discourages, free competition and the
distribution of computer operating systems, the benefits of which
directly pass to consumers. These benefits include lower prices, better
access and more innovation."

.. which is nice.

The procedural issues in this case are a very important reminder to us
non-lawyerly types that whilst we may think we have some idea about the
law we'd probably best not invest too heavily in our own self
confidence.  US procedure is obviously different to English procedure,
but if you are thinking of taking a matter to a court (other than the
small claims court, which is sensibly more tollerant of individuals
representing themselves) then *please* get a lawyer.  

My wife has a copy of the English civil procedure in the front-room.
It's a big white book, full or rules.  Size wise it's about the same
size as the Lord of the Rings, with the complete works of Shakespeare
sat next to it, and a large bible sat next to that.  Next to the civil
procedure book are the supplements (the patches so to speak) each of
which is the size of an O'Reilly "Nutshell book", and last but not least
there's a big white ring-binder entitled "Civil procedure forms".  The
point is bringing a case to court is a complex matter with a stack of
world beating red-tape if you get it wrong then you will not suceed.
It's worth remembering that even if you're the litigant you can, as Mr.
Wallace found out, end up paying the other sides legal costs.

Details are here:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060320201540127


-- 
Geoffrey Teale <tealeg at member.fsf.org>
Free Software Foundation