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GNUN |
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Subject: |
www/philosophy patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.h... |
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Date: |
Wed, 22 May 2019 07:34:12 -0400 (EDT) |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: GNUN <gnun> 19/05/22 07:34:11
Modified files:
philosophy : patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html
patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html
patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html
Added files:
philosophy/po : patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html
patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html
patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html
Log message:
Automatic update by GNUnited Nations.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.26&r2=1.27
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.5&r2=1.6
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.39&r2=1.40
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1
Patches:
Index: patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html,v
retrieving revision 1.26
retrieving revision 1.27
diff -u -b -r1.26 -r1.27
--- patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html 23 May 2015 06:11:02 -0000 1.26
+++ patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.html 22 May 2019 11:34:11 -0000 1.27
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-<!--#set var="ENGLISH_PAGE"
value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.en.html" -->
+<!--#set var="PO_FILE"
+ value='<a href="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.po">
+ https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it.po</a>'
+ --><!--#set var="ORIGINAL_FILE"
value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html"
+ --><!--#set var="DIFF_FILE"
value="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html"
+ --><!--#set var="OUTDATED_SINCE" value="2019-03-23" --><!--#set
var="ENGLISH_PAGE" value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.en.html" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/header.it.html" -->
<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
@@ -9,6 +14,7 @@
<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.translist" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.it.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/outdated.it.html" -->
<h2>Una riforma dei brevetti non è sufficiente</h2>
<p>
@@ -174,7 +180,7 @@
<p class="unprintable"><!-- timestamp start -->
Ultimo aggiornamento:
-$Date: 2015/05/23 06:11:02 $
+$Date: 2019/05/22 11:34:11 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
Index: patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html,v
retrieving revision 1.5
retrieving revision 1.6
diff -u -b -r1.5 -r1.6
--- patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html 9 Feb 2015 21:03:00 -0000 1.5
+++ patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.html 22 May 2019 11:34:11 -0000 1.6
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-<!--#set var="ENGLISH_PAGE"
value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.en.html" -->
+<!--#set var="PO_FILE"
+ value='<a href="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.po">
+ https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl.po</a>'
+ --><!--#set var="ORIGINAL_FILE"
value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html"
+ --><!--#set var="DIFF_FILE"
value="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html"
+ --><!--#set var="OUTDATED_SINCE" value="2019-03-23" --><!--#set
var="ENGLISH_PAGE" value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.en.html" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/header.nl.html" -->
<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
@@ -8,6 +13,7 @@
<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.translist" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.nl.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/outdated.nl.html" -->
<h2>Patenthervorming is Niet Voldoende</h2>
<p>
@@ -163,7 +169,7 @@
<p class="unprintable"><!-- timestamp start -->
Bijgewerkt:
-$Date: 2015/02/09 21:03:00 $
+$Date: 2019/05/22 11:34:11 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
Index: patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html,v
retrieving revision 1.39
retrieving revision 1.40
diff -u -b -r1.39 -r1.40
--- patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html 16 Jan 2016 00:05:00 -0000 1.39
+++ patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.html 22 May 2019 11:34:11 -0000 1.40
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-<!--#set var="ENGLISH_PAGE"
value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.en.html" -->
+<!--#set var="PO_FILE"
+ value='<a href="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.po">
+ https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl.po</a>'
+ --><!--#set var="ORIGINAL_FILE"
value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html"
+ --><!--#set var="DIFF_FILE"
value="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html"
+ --><!--#set var="OUTDATED_SINCE" value="2019-03-23" --><!--#set
var="ENGLISH_PAGE" value="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.en.html" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/header.pl.html" -->
<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
@@ -9,6 +14,7 @@
<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.translist" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.pl.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/outdated.pl.html" -->
<h2>Reforma patentowa nie wystarczy</h2>
<p>
@@ -183,7 +189,7 @@
<p class="unprintable"><!-- timestamp start -->
Aktualizowane:
-$Date: 2016/01/16 00:05:00 $
+$Date: 2019/05/22 11:34:11 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
Index: po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html
===================================================================
RCS file: po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html
diff -N po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html
--- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.it-diff.html 22 May 2019 11:34:11 -0000
1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
+<!-- Generated by GNUN -->
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
+<title>/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html-diff</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+span.removed { background-color: #f22; color: #000; }
+span.inserted { background-color: #2f2; color: #000; }
+</style></head>
+<body><pre>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
+
+<title>Patent Reform Is Not Enough - GNU Project - Free Software
Foundation</title>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.translist"
-->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+
+<h2>Patent Reform Is Not Enough</h2>
+
+<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>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+But would correct implementation really solve the problem of software
+patents? Let's consider an example.</p>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+That September, when the FSF was about a week away from releasing one
+of them as the new choice for compressing our distribution files, use
+of these programs in the United States was halted by a newly issued
+patent, number 5,049,881.</p>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+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>
+
+<p>
+In the US legal system, patents are intended as a bargain between
+society and individuals; society is supposed to gain through the
+disclosure of techniques that would otherwise never be available. It
+is clear that society has gained nothing by issuing patent number
+5,049,881. This technique was going to be available anyway. It was
+easy enough to find that several people did so at around the same
+time.</p>
+
+<p>
+Under current rules, our ability to use Williams's programs depends on
+whether anyone happened to publish the same idea before June 18, 1990.
+That is to say, it depends on luck. This system is good for promoting
+the practice of law, but not progress in software.</p>
+
+<p>
+Teaching the Patent Office to look at more of the existing prior art
+might prevent some outrageous mistakes. It will not cure the greater
+problem, which is the patenting of every <em>new</em> wrinkle in
the use
+of computers, like the one that Williams and others independently
+developed.</p>
+
+<p>
+This will turn software into a quagmire. Even an innovative program
+typically uses dozens of not-quite-new techniques and features, each
+of which might have been patented. Our ability to use each wrinkle
+will depend on luck, and if we are unlucky half the time, few programs
+will escape infringing a large number of patents. Navigating the maze
+of patents will be harder than writing software. As <cite>The
+Economist</cite> says, software patents are simply bad for
business.</p>
+
+<h3>What you can do to help</h3>
+
+<p>
+There is a massive effort in Europe to stop software patents. Please
+<span class="inserted"><ins><em><!-- [Dead as of
2019-03-23]</em></ins></span> support <a
href="http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/">this
+petition</a> for a Europe free of software patents, and <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>--></em></ins></span> see <a
+href="http://www.ffii.org"> the FFII web site</a> for full details of
+how you can help.</p>
+
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden"><address@hidden></a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
+to <a
href="mailto:address@hidden"><address@hidden></a>.</p>
+
+<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
+ replace it with the translation of these two:
+
+ We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
+ translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
+ Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
+ to <a href="mailto:address@hidden">
+ <address@hidden></a>.</p>
+
+ <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of
+ our web pages, see <a
+ href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+ README</a>. -->
+Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
+of this article.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, <span
class="removed"><del><strong>2008</strong></del></span> <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>2008, 2019</em></ins></span> Free Software
+Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+<span
class="removed"><del><strong>href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative</strong></del></span>
+<span
class="inserted"><ins><em>href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative</em></ins></span>
+Commons <span class="removed"><del><strong>Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United
States</strong></del></span> <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
International</em></ins></span> License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2019/05/22 11:34:11 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+</pre></body></html>
Index: po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html
===================================================================
RCS file: po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html
diff -N po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html
--- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.nl-diff.html 22 May 2019 11:34:11 -0000
1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
+<!-- Generated by GNUN -->
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
+<title>/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html-diff</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+span.removed { background-color: #f22; color: #000; }
+span.inserted { background-color: #2f2; color: #000; }
+</style></head>
+<body><pre>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
+
+<title>Patent Reform Is Not Enough - GNU Project - Free Software
Foundation</title>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.translist"
-->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+
+<h2>Patent Reform Is Not Enough</h2>
+
+<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>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+But would correct implementation really solve the problem of software
+patents? Let's consider an example.</p>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+That September, when the FSF was about a week away from releasing one
+of them as the new choice for compressing our distribution files, use
+of these programs in the United States was halted by a newly issued
+patent, number 5,049,881.</p>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+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>
+
+<p>
+In the US legal system, patents are intended as a bargain between
+society and individuals; society is supposed to gain through the
+disclosure of techniques that would otherwise never be available. It
+is clear that society has gained nothing by issuing patent number
+5,049,881. This technique was going to be available anyway. It was
+easy enough to find that several people did so at around the same
+time.</p>
+
+<p>
+Under current rules, our ability to use Williams's programs depends on
+whether anyone happened to publish the same idea before June 18, 1990.
+That is to say, it depends on luck. This system is good for promoting
+the practice of law, but not progress in software.</p>
+
+<p>
+Teaching the Patent Office to look at more of the existing prior art
+might prevent some outrageous mistakes. It will not cure the greater
+problem, which is the patenting of every <em>new</em> wrinkle in
the use
+of computers, like the one that Williams and others independently
+developed.</p>
+
+<p>
+This will turn software into a quagmire. Even an innovative program
+typically uses dozens of not-quite-new techniques and features, each
+of which might have been patented. Our ability to use each wrinkle
+will depend on luck, and if we are unlucky half the time, few programs
+will escape infringing a large number of patents. Navigating the maze
+of patents will be harder than writing software. As <cite>The
+Economist</cite> says, software patents are simply bad for
business.</p>
+
+<h3>What you can do to help</h3>
+
+<p>
+There is a massive effort in Europe to stop software patents. Please
+<span class="inserted"><ins><em><!-- [Dead as of
2019-03-23]</em></ins></span> support <a
href="http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/">this
+petition</a> for a Europe free of software patents, and <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>--></em></ins></span> see <a
+href="http://www.ffii.org"> the FFII web site</a> for full details of
+how you can help.</p>
+
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden"><address@hidden></a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
+to <a
href="mailto:address@hidden"><address@hidden></a>.</p>
+
+<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
+ replace it with the translation of these two:
+
+ We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
+ translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
+ Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
+ to <a href="mailto:address@hidden">
+ <address@hidden></a>.</p>
+
+ <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of
+ our web pages, see <a
+ href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+ README</a>. -->
+Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
+of this article.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, <span
class="removed"><del><strong>2008</strong></del></span> <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>2008, 2019</em></ins></span> Free Software
+Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+<span
class="removed"><del><strong>href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative</strong></del></span>
+<span
class="inserted"><ins><em>href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative</em></ins></span>
+Commons <span class="removed"><del><strong>Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United
States</strong></del></span> <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
International</em></ins></span> License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2019/05/22 11:34:11 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+</pre></body></html>
Index: po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html
===================================================================
RCS file: po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html
diff -N po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html
--- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.pl-diff.html 22 May 2019 11:34:11 -0000
1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
+<!-- Generated by GNUN -->
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
+<title>/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html-diff</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+span.removed { background-color: #f22; color: #000; }
+span.inserted { background-color: #2f2; color: #000; }
+</style></head>
+<body><pre>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 -->
+
+<title>Patent Reform Is Not Enough - GNU Project - Free Software
Foundation</title>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/patent-reform-is-not-enough.translist"
-->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+
+<h2>Patent Reform Is Not Enough</h2>
+
+<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>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+But would correct implementation really solve the problem of software
+patents? Let's consider an example.</p>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+That September, when the FSF was about a week away from releasing one
+of them as the new choice for compressing our distribution files, use
+of these programs in the United States was halted by a newly issued
+patent, number 5,049,881.</p>
+
+<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>
+
+<p>
+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>
+
+<p>
+In the US legal system, patents are intended as a bargain between
+society and individuals; society is supposed to gain through the
+disclosure of techniques that would otherwise never be available. It
+is clear that society has gained nothing by issuing patent number
+5,049,881. This technique was going to be available anyway. It was
+easy enough to find that several people did so at around the same
+time.</p>
+
+<p>
+Under current rules, our ability to use Williams's programs depends on
+whether anyone happened to publish the same idea before June 18, 1990.
+That is to say, it depends on luck. This system is good for promoting
+the practice of law, but not progress in software.</p>
+
+<p>
+Teaching the Patent Office to look at more of the existing prior art
+might prevent some outrageous mistakes. It will not cure the greater
+problem, which is the patenting of every <em>new</em> wrinkle in
the use
+of computers, like the one that Williams and others independently
+developed.</p>
+
+<p>
+This will turn software into a quagmire. Even an innovative program
+typically uses dozens of not-quite-new techniques and features, each
+of which might have been patented. Our ability to use each wrinkle
+will depend on luck, and if we are unlucky half the time, few programs
+will escape infringing a large number of patents. Navigating the maze
+of patents will be harder than writing software. As <cite>The
+Economist</cite> says, software patents are simply bad for
business.</p>
+
+<h3>What you can do to help</h3>
+
+<p>
+There is a massive effort in Europe to stop software patents. Please
+<span class="inserted"><ins><em><!-- [Dead as of
2019-03-23]</em></ins></span> support <a
href="http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/">this
+petition</a> for a Europe free of software patents, and <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>--></em></ins></span> see <a
+href="http://www.ffii.org"> the FFII web site</a> for full details of
+how you can help.</p>
+
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden"><address@hidden></a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
+to <a
href="mailto:address@hidden"><address@hidden></a>.</p>
+
+<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
+ replace it with the translation of these two:
+
+ We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
+ translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
+ Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
+ to <a href="mailto:address@hidden">
+ <address@hidden></a>.</p>
+
+ <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of
+ our web pages, see <a
+ href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+ README</a>. -->
+Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
+of this article.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, <span
class="removed"><del><strong>2008</strong></del></span> <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>2008, 2019</em></ins></span> Free Software
+Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+<span
class="removed"><del><strong>href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative</strong></del></span>
+<span
class="inserted"><ins><em>href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative</em></ins></span>
+Commons <span class="removed"><del><strong>Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United
States</strong></del></span> <span
class="inserted"><ins><em>Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
International</em></ins></span> License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2019/05/22 11:34:11 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+</pre></body></html>
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