Thanks, Gary.  (01)
I've signed it, and am passing it along.  (02)
If I may just cite one reason why I signed, I'd say:  (03)
 "If the patent process were originally intended to encourage 
innovation, then allowing for software patents would hurt that cause a 
lot more than it would promote it."  (04)
-ppy
--  (05)
Gary Richmond wrote 2003年9月18日 09:11:23 -0400:
> I'm forwarding most of an email I received from Uta Priss
> regarding a EU vote that could profoundly effect open-source
> software in Europe. Uta wrote:
>
>> The European Parliament is voting next Tuesday on whether
>> or not to introduce US-style software patent laws in
>> Europe. This legislation would mainly help large
>> companies, who own most of the patents and can afford
>> patent lawyers. Apparently, even obvious ideas, such as
>> the progress bar used in software installation and the
>> folder look for selecting options have been patented (by
>> IBM and Adobe, respectively). This means that any
>> open-source software that happens to implement these
>> ideas, could no longer be used commercially without
>> licensing these features. It might mean that companies
>> would no longer be able to use Linux computers.
>>
>> There is a petition which can be signed (also by
>> Non-Europeans):
>>
>> http://petition.eurolinux.org/  (06) 
_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/
Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Config: 
http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ 
To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  (07)