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www/philosophy patent-reform-is-not-enough.html
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From: |
Yavor Doganov |
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Subject: |
www/philosophy patent-reform-is-not-enough.html |
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Date: |
Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:23:36 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Yavor Doganov <yavor> 08/07/09 12:23:36
Modified files:
philosophy : patent-reform-is-not-enough.html
Log message:
Template and link to the Italian translation.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.16&r2=1.17
Patches:
Index: patent-reform-is-not-enough.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html,v
retrieving revision 1.16
retrieving revision 1.17
diff -u -b -r1.16 -r1.17
--- patent-reform-is-not-enough.html 18 Jun 2008 22:53:50 -0000 1.16
+++ patent-reform-is-not-enough.html 9 Jul 2008 12:23:30 -0000 1.17
@@ -1,45 +1,22 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
- "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en">
-
-<head>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<title>Patent Reform Is Not Enough - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
(FSF)</title>
-<meta http-equiv="content-type" content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
-<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/gnu.css" />
-<link rev="made" href="mailto:address@hidden"; />
-</head>
-
-<!-- This document is in XML, and xhtml 1.0 -->
-<!-- Please make sure to properly nest your tags -->
-<!-- and ensure that your final document validates -->
-<!-- consistent with W3C xhtml 1.0 and CSS standards -->
-<!-- See validator.w3.org -->
-
-<body>
-
-<p><a href="#translations">Translations</a> of this page</p>
-
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
<h2>Patent Reform Is Not Enough</h2>
-<p>
-<a href="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><img
src="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- alt=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- width="160" height="200" /></a>
-</p>
<p>
When people first learn about the problem of software patents, their
attention is often drawn to the egregious examples: patents that cover
techniques already widely known. These techniques include sorting a
collection of formulae so that no variable is used before it is
-calculated (called "natural order recalculation" in spreadsheets), and
-the use of exclusive-or to modify the contents of a bit-map display.</p>
+calculated (called “natural order recalculation” in
+spreadsheets), and the use of exclusive-or to modify the contents of a
+bit-map display.</p>
<p>
Focusing on these examples can lead some people to ignore the rest of
-the problem. They are attracted to the position that the patent system
-is basically correct and needs only "reforms" to carry out its own
-rules properly.</p>
+the problem. They are attracted to the position that the patent
+system is basically correct and needs only “reforms” to
+carry out its own rules properly.</p>
<p>
But would correct implementation really solve the problem of software
@@ -47,11 +24,11 @@
<p>
In the early 90s we desperately needed a new free program for
-compression, because the old de-facto standard "compress" program had
-been taken away from us by patents. In April 1991, software developer
-Ross Williams began publishing a series of data compression programs
-using new algorithms of his own devising. Their superior speed and
-compression quality soon attracted users.</p>
+compression, because the old de-facto standard “compress”
+program had been taken away from us by patents. In April 1991,
+software developer Ross Williams began publishing a series of data
+compression programs using new algorithms of his own devising. Their
+superior speed and compression quality soon attracted users.</p>
<p>
That September, when the FSF was about a week away from releasing one
@@ -62,22 +39,24 @@
<p>
Under the patent system's rules, whether the public is allowed to use
these programs (i.e., whether the patent is invalid) depends on
-whether there is "prior art": whether the basic idea was published
-before the patent application, which was on June 18, 1990. Williams'
-publication in April 1991 came after that date, so it does not count.</p>
+whether there is “prior art”: whether the basic idea was
+published before the patent application, which was on June 18, 1990.
+Williams' publication in April 1991 came after that date, so it does
+not count.</p>
<p>
-A student described a similar algorithm in 1988--1989 in a class paper
+A student described a similar algorithm in 1988-1989 in a class paper
at the University of San Francisco, but the paper was not published.
So it does not count as prior art under the current rules.</p>
<p>
-Reforms to make the patent system work "properly" would not have
-prevented this problem. Under the rules of the patent system, this
-patent seems valid. There was no prior art for it. It is not close
-to obvious, as the patent system interprets the term. (Like most
-patents, it is neither worldshaking nor trivial, but somewhere in
-between.) The fault is in the rules themselves, not their execution.</p>
+Reforms to make the patent system work “properly” would
+not have prevented this problem. Under the rules of the patent
+system, this patent seems valid. There was no prior art for it. It
+is not close to obvious, as the patent system interprets the term.
+(Like most patents, it is neither worldshaking nor trivial, but
+somewhere in between.) The fault is in the rules themselves, not
+their execution.</p>
<p>
In the US legal system, patents are intended as a bargain between
@@ -110,70 +89,27 @@
of patents will be harder than writing software. As <cite>The
Economist</cite> says, software patents are simply bad for business.</p>
-<hr />
-
<h3>What you can do to help</h3>
<p>
-
There is a massive effort in Europe to stop software patents. Please
support <a href="http://petition.eurolinux.org/index.html";>this
petition</a> for a Europe free of software patents, and see <a
href="http://www.ffii.org";> the FFII web site</a> for full details of
how you can help.</p>
-<hr />
-<h4><a href="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Other Texts to Read</a></h4>
-<hr />
-
-<!-- All pages on the GNU web server should have the section about -->
-<!-- verbatim copying. Please do NOT remove this without talking -->
-<!-- with the webmasters first. -->
-<!-- Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document -->
-<!-- and that it is like this "2001, 2002" not this "2001-2002." -->
-
-<div class="translations">
-<p><a id="translations"></a>
-<b>Translations of this page</b>:<br />
-
-<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical, and in the original -->
-<!-- language if possible, otherwise default to English -->
-<!-- If you do not have it English, please comment what the -->
-<!-- English is. If you add a new language here, please -->
-<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
-<!-- one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
-<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
-<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
-<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right versus -->
-<!-- http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm -->
-
-[
- <a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.ca.html">Català</a>
<!-- Catalan -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.cs.html">Česky</a>
<!-- Czech -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html">English</a>
-| <a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.es.html">Español</a>
<!-- Spanish -->
-| <a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.fr.html">Français</a>
<!-- French -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html">Nederlands</a>
<!-- Dutch -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html">Polski</a> <!--
Polish -->
-| <a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.ru.html">Русский</a>
<!-- Russian -->
-]
-</p>
</div>
-<div class="copyright">
-<p>
-Return to the <a href="/home.html">GNU Project home page</a>.
-</p>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
<p>
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
-There are also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
the FSF.
<br />
-Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
</p>
@@ -185,9 +121,11 @@
</p>
<p>
-Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
-51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA
-<br />
+Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2008 Free Software
+Foundation, Inc.,
+</p>
+<address>51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA</address>
+<p>
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is
preserved.
@@ -196,10 +134,50 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2008/06/18 22:53:50 $
+$Date: 2008/07/09 12:23:30 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code. -->
+<!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
+<!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
+<!-- If you add a new language here, please -->
+<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
+<!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
+<!-- - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
+<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
+<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
+<!-- Please also check you have the language code right; see: -->
+<!-- http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php -->
+<!-- If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available, -->
+<!-- use the 3-letter ISO 639-2. -->
+<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. -->
+
+<ul class="translations-list">
+<!-- Catalan -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.ca.html">Català</a> [ca]</li>
+<!-- Czech -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.cs.html">Česky</a> [cs]</li>
+<!-- English -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html">English</a> [en]</li>
+<!-- Spanish -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.es.html">Español</a> [es]</li>
+<!-- French -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.fr.html">Français</a> [fr]</li>
+<!-- Italian -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html">Italiano</a> [it]</li>
+<!-- Dutch -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html">Nederlands</a> [nl]</li>
+<!-- Polish -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html">Polski</a> [pl]</li>
+<!-- Russian -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.ru.html">Русский</a> [ru]</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
</body>
</html>
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