# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/danger-of-software-patents.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: danger-of-software-patents.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-09-11 09:55+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "The Danger of Software Patents - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "The Danger of Software Patents" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "This is the transcript of a talk presented on 8 October 2009 at Victoria " "University of Wellington." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dt> msgid "SF:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "My name is Susy Frankel and on behalf of myself and Meredith Kolsky Lewis, " "I'd like to welcome you to this seminar hosted by the New Zealand Centre for " "International Economic Law. Brenda Chawner, who is part of the Victoria " "University School of Information Management, rather than the Centre I just " "named being part of the Law Faculty, is really responsible for bringing " "Richard Stallman back to New Zealand and hosting his tour of New Zealand, " "including this stop here in Wellington tonight. She's unfortunately unable " "to be with us at this moment because she's doing what we do in universities " "which is teach." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So it's my pleasure to welcome you to the lecture “The Danger of " "Software Patents.” Richard Stallman has a suite of lectures that he " "offers, and after discussion with Brenda, I chose this topic precisely " "because for the first real time in New Zealand history, we have a somewhat " "prolonged, but important, debate about patent law reform, and many of you in " "the room are responsible for the debate relating to software patents. So it " "seemed very topical, very timely. So thank you, Richard, for making that " "offer." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Richard Stallman needs little introduction. Nonetheless, for some of you " "who have not heard of him previously, he has launched the development of the " "GNU operating system. I had never heard GNU said before, and I went online " "to YouTube (where would we be be without YouTube)…" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dt> msgid "RMS:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Oh, you shouldn't recommend YouTube, because they distribute in a patented " "video format." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Good point. I only recommend it for the point that I thought do you say " "G N U or GNU?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Wikipedia says that. [The answer is, pronounce it as a one syllable, with a " "hard G.]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Yes, but live I heard you say it on YouTube. But nonetheless, the important " "point is that it's not proprietorial. But the most interesting point is " "that Richard has received many honors for his work. My favorite, and " "therefore the one that I'm going to mention, is the Takeda Award for Social " "and Economic Betterment, and I imagine we're going to hear a lot of that " "tonight, so join me in welcoming Richard." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "First of all, I'd like to mention one of the reasons why I'm drinking this " "[a can or bottle of a cola which is not coke] is there's a worldwide boycott " "of Coca-Cola Company for murdering union organizers in Colombia. Look at " "the site <a href=\"http://killercoke.org\">killercoke.org</a>. And they're " "not talking about the effects of drinking the product—after all, the " "same might be true of many other products—it's murder. So before you " "buy any drink product, look at the fine print and see if it's made by " "Coca-Cola Company." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "I'm most known for starting the free software movement and leading " "development of the GNU operating system—although most of the people " "who use the system mistakenly believe it's Linux and think it was started by " "somebody else a decade later. But I'm not going to be speaking about any of " "that today. I'm here to talk about a legal danger to all software " "developers, distributors, and users: the danger of patents—on " "computational ideas, computational techniques, an idea for something you can " "do on a computer." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now, to understand this issue, the first thing you need to realize is that " "patent law has nothing to do with copyright law—they're totally " "different. Whatever you learn about one of them, you can be sure it doesn't " "apply to the other." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So, for example, any time a person makes a statement about " "“intellectual property,” that's spreading confusion, because " "it's lumping together not only these two laws but also at least a dozen " "others. They're all different, and the result is any statement which " "purports to be about “intellectual property” is pure " "confusion—either the person making the statement is confused, or the " "person is trying to confuse others. But either way, whether it's accidental " "or malicious, it's confusion." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Protect yourself from this confusion by rejecting any statement which makes " "use of that term. The only way to make thoughtful comments and think clear " "thoughts about any one of these laws is to distinguish it first from all the " "others, and talk or think about one particular law, so that we can " "understand what it actually does and then form conclusions about it. So " "I'll be talking about patent law, and what happens in those countries which " "have allowed patent law to restrict software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So, what does a patent do? A patent is an explicit, government-issued " "monopoly on using a certain idea. In the patent there's a part called the " "claims, which describe exactly what you're not allowed to do (although " "they're written in a way you probably can't understand). It's a struggle to " "figure out what those prohibitions actually mean, and they may go on for " "many pages of fine print." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So the patent typically lasts for 20 years, which is a fairly long time in " "our field. Twenty years ago there was no World Wide Web—a tremendous " "amount of the use of computers goes on in an area which wasn't even possible " "to propose 20 years ago. So of course everything that people do on it is " "something that's new since 20 years ago—at least in some aspect it is " "new. So if patents had been applied for we'd be prohibited from doing all " "of it, and we may be prohibited from doing all of it in countries that have " "been foolish enough to have such a policy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Most of the time, when people describe the function of the patent system, " "they have a vested interest in the system. They may be patent lawyers, or " "they may work in the Patent Office, or they may be in the patent office of a " "megacorporation, so they want you to like the system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The <cite>Economist</cite> once referred to the patent system as “a " "time-consuming lottery.” If you've ever seen publicity for a lottery, " "you understand how it works: they dwell on the very unlikely probability of " "winning, and they don't talk about the overwhelming likelihood of losing. " "In this way, they intentionally and systematically present a biased picture " "of what's likely to happen to you, without actually lying about any " "particular fact." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "It's the same way for the publicity for the patent system: they talk about " "what it's like to walk down the street with a patent in your pocket—or " "first of all, what it's like to get a patent, then what it's like to have a " "patent in your pocket, and every so often you can pull it out and point it " "at somebody and say, “Give me your money.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "To compensate for their bias, I'm going to describe it from the other side, " "the victim side—what it's like for people who want to develop or " "distribute or run software. You have to worry that any day someone might " "walk up to you and point a patent at you and say, “Give me your " "money.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "If you want to develop software in a country that allows software patents, " "and you want to work with patent law, what will you have to do?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "You could try to make a list of all the ideas that one might be able to find " "in the program that you're about to write, aside from the fact that you " "don't know that when you start writing the program. [But] even after you " "finish writing the program you wouldn't be able to make such a list." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The reason is… in the process you conceived of it in one particular " "way—you've got a mental structure to apply to your design. And " "because of that, it will block you from seeing other structures that " "somebody might use to understand the same program—because you're not " "coming to it fresh; you already designed it with one structure in mind. " "Someone else who sees it for the first time might see a different structure, " "which involves different ideas, and it would be hard for you to see what " "those other ideas are. But nonetheless they're implemented in your program, " "and those patents could prohibit your program, if those ideas are patented." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, suppose there were graphical-idea patents and you wanted to " "draw a square. Well, you would realize that if there was a patent on a " "bottom edge, it would prohibit your square. You could put “bottom " "edge” on the list of all ideas implemented in your drawing. But you " "might not realize that somebody else with a patent on bottom corners could " "sue you easily also, because he could take your drawing and turn it by 45 " "degrees. And now your square is like this, and it has a bottom corner." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So you couldn't make a list of all the ideas which, if patented, could " "prohibit your program." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "What you might try to do is find out all the ideas that are patented that " "might be in your program. Now you can't do that actually, because patent " "applications are kept secret for at least eighteen months; and the result is " "the Patent Office could be considering now whether to issue a patent, and " "they won't tell you. And this is not just an academic, theoretical " "possibility." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, in 1984 the Compress program was written, a program for " "compressing files using the <abbr title=\"Lempel-Ziv-Welch\"> LZW</abbr> " "data compression algorithm, and at that time there was no patent on that " "algorithm for compressing files. The author got the algorithm from an " "article in a journal. That was when we thought that the purpose of computer " "science journals was to publish algorithms so people could use them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "He wrote this program, he released it, and in 1985 a patent was issued on " "that algorithm. But the patent holder was cunning and didn't immediately go " "around telling people to stop using it. The patent holder figured, " "“Let's let everybody dig their grave deeper.” A few years later " "they started threatening people; it became clear we couldn't use Compress, " "so I asked for people to suggest other algorithms we could use for " "compressing files." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "And somebody wrote and said, “I developed another data compression " "algorithm that works better, I've written a program, I'd like to give it to " "you.” So we got ready to release it, and a week before it was ready to " "be released, I read in the <cite>New York Times</cite> weekly patent column, " "which I rarely saw—it's a couple of times a year I might see " "it—but just by luck I saw that someone had gotten a patent for " "“inventing a new method of compressing data.” And so I said we " "had better look at this, and sure enough it covered the program we were " "about to release. But it could have been worse: the patent could have been " "issued a year later, or two years later, or three years later, or five years " "later." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Anyway, someone else came up with another, even better compression " "algorithm, which was used in the program gzip, and just about everybody who " "wanted to compress files switched to gzip, so it sounds like a happy " "ending. But you'll hear more later. It's not entirely so happy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So, you can't find out about the patents that are being considered even " "though they may prohibit your work once they come out, but you can find out " "about the already issued patents. They're all published by the Patent " "Office. The problem is you can't read them all, because there are too many " "of them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "In the US I believe there are hundreds of thousands of software patents; " "keeping track of them would be a tremendous job. So you're going to have to " "search for relevant patents. And you'll find a lot of relevant patents, but " "you won't necessarily find them all." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, in the 80s and 90s, there was a patent on “natural order " "recalculation” in spreadsheets. Somebody once asked me for a copy of " "it, so I looked in our computer file which lists the patent numbers. And " "then I pulled out the drawer to get the paper copy of this patent and " "xeroxed it and sent it to him. And when he got it, he said, “I think " "you sent me the wrong patent. This is something about compilers.” So " "I thought maybe our file has the wrong number in it. I looked in it again, " "and sure enough it said, “A method for compiling formulas into object " "code.” So I started to read it to see if it was indeed the wrong " "patent. I read the claims, and sure enough it was the natural order " "recalculation patent, but it didn't use those terms. It didn't use the term " "“spreadsheet.” In fact, what the patent prohibited was dozens of " "different ways of implementing topological sort—all the ways they " "could think of. But I don't think it used the term “topological " "sort.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So if you were writing a spreadsheet and you tried to find relevant patents " "by searching, you might have found a lot of patents. But you wouldn't have " "found this one until you told somebody, “Oh, I'm working on a " "spreadsheet,” and he said, “Oh, did you know those other " "companies that are making spreadsheets are getting sued?” Then you " "would have found out." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Well, you can't find all the patents by searching, but you can find a lot of " "them. And then you've got to figure out what they mean, which is hard, " "because patents are written in tortuous legal language which is very hard to " "understand the real meaning of. So you're going to have to spend a lot of " "time talking with an expensive lawyer explaining what you want to do in " "order to find out from the lawyer whether you're allowed to do it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Even the patent holders often can't recognize just what their patents mean. " "For instance, there's somebody named Paul Heckel who released a program for " "displaying a lot of data on a small screen, and based on a couple of the " "ideas in that program he got a couple of patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "I once tried to find a simple way to describe what claim 1 of one of those " "patents covered. I found that I couldn't find any simpler way of saying it " "than what was in the patent itself; and that sentence, I couldn't manage to " "keep it all in my mind at once, no matter how hard I tried." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "And Heckel couldn't follow it either, because when he saw HyperCard, all he " "noticed was it was nothing like his program. It didn't occur to him that " "the way his patent was written it might prohibit HyperCard; but his lawyer " "had that idea, so he threatened Apple. And then he threatened Apple's " "customers, and eventually Apple made a settlement with him which is secret, " "so we don't know who really won. And this is just an illustration of how " "hard it is for anybody to understand what a patent does or doesn't prohibit." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "In fact, I once gave this speech and Heckel was in the audience. And at " "this point he jumped up and said, “That's not true, I just didn't know " "the scope of my protection.” And I said, “Yeah, that's what I " "said,” at which point he sat down and that was the end of my " "experience being heckled by Heckel. If I had said no, he probably would " "have found a way to argue with me." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Anyway, after a long, expensive conversation with a lawyer, the lawyer will " "give you an answer like this:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><blockquote><p> msgid "" "If you do something in this area, you're almost certain to lose a lawsuit; " "if you do something in this area, there's a considerable chance of losing a " "lawsuit; and if you really want to be safe you've got to stay out of this " "area. But there's a sizeable element of chance in the outcome of any " "lawsuit." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So now that you have clear, predictable rules for doing business, what are " "you actually going to do? Well, there are three things that you could do to " "deal with the issue of any particular patent. One is to avoid it, another " "is to get a license for it, and the third is to invalidate it. So I'll talk " "about these one by one." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "First, there's the possibility of avoiding the patent, which means, don't " "implement what it prohibits. Of course, if it's hard to tell what it " "prohibits, it might be hard to tell what would suffice to avoid it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "A couple of years ago Kodak sued Sun [for] using a patent for something " "having to do with object-oriented programming, and Sun didn't think it was " "infringing that patent. But the court decided it was; and when other people " "look at that patent they haven't the faintest idea whether that decision was " "right or not. No one can tell what that patent does or doesn't cover, but " "Sun had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because of violating a " "completely incomprehensible law." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Sometimes you can tell what you need to avoid, and sometimes what you need " "to avoid is an algorithm." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, I saw a patent for something like the fast Fourier transform, " "but it ran twice as fast. Well, if the ordinary FFT is fast enough for your " "application then that's an easy way to avoid this other one. And most of " "the time that would work. Once in a while you might be trying to do " "something where it runs doing FFT all the time, and it's just barely fast " "enough using the faster algorithm. And then you can't avoid it, although " "maybe you could wait a couple of years for a faster computer. But that's " "going to be rare. Most of the time that patent will to be easy to avoid." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "On the other hand, a patent on an algorithm may be impossible to avoid. " "Consider the LZW data compression algorithm. Well, as I explained, we found " "a better data compression algorithm, and everybody who wanted to compress " "files switched to the program gzip which used the better algorithm. And the " "reason is, if you just want to compress the file and uncompress it later, " "you can tell people to use this program to uncompress it; then you can use " "any program with any algorithm, and you only care how well it works." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But LZW is used for other things, too; for instance the PostScript language " "specifies operators for LZW compression and LZW uncompression. It's no use " "having another, better algorithm because it makes a different format of " "data. They're not interoperable. If you compress it with the gzip " "algorithm, you won't be able to uncompress it using LZW. So no matter how " "good your other algorithm is, and no matter what it is, it just doesn't " "enable you to implement PostScript according to the specs." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But I noticed that users rarely ask their printers to compress things. " "Generally the only thing they want their printers to do is to uncompress; " "and I also noticed that both of the patents on the LZW algorithm were " "written in such a way that if your system can only uncompress, it's not " "forbidden. These patents were written so that they covered compression, and " "they had other claims covering both compression and uncompression; but there " "was no claim covering only uncompression. So I realized that if we " "implement only the uncompression for LZW, we would be safe. And although it " "would not satisfy the specification, it would please the users sufficiently; " "it would do what they actually needed. So that's how we barely squeaked by " "avoiding the two patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now there is GIF format, for images. That uses the LZW algorithm also. It " "didn't take long for people to define another image format, called PNG, " "which stands for “PNG's Not GIF.” I think it uses the gzip " "algorithm. And we started saying to people, “Don't use GIF format, " "it's dangerous. Switch to PNG.” And the users said, “Well, " "maybe some day, but the browsers don't implement it yet,” and the " "browser developers said, “We may implement it someday, but there's not " "much demand from users.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Well, it's pretty obvious what's going on—GIF was a de facto " "standard. In effect, asking people to switch to a different format, instead " "of their de facto standard, is like asking everyone in New Zealand to speak " "Hungarian. People will say, “Well, yeah, I'll learn to speak it after " "everyone else does.” And so we never succeeded in asking people to " "stop using GIF, even though one of those patent holders was going around to " "operators of web sites, threatening to sue them unless they could prove that " "all of the GIFs on the site were made with authorized, licensed software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So GIF was a dangerous trap for a large part of our community. We thought " "we had an alternative to GIF format, namely JPEG, but then somebody said, " "“I was just looking through my portfolio of patents”—I " "think it was somebody that just bought patents and used them to threaten " "people—and he said, “and I found that one of them covers JPEG " "format.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Well, JPEG was not a de facto standard, it's an official standard, issued by " "a standards committee; and the committee had a lawyer too. Their lawyer " "said he didn't think that this patent actually covered JPEG format." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So who's right? Well, this patent holder sued a bunch of companies, and if " "there was a decision, it would have said who was right. But I haven't heard " "about a decision; I'm not sure if there ever was one. I think they settled, " "and the settlement is almost certainly secret, which means that it didn't " "tell us anything about who's right." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "These are fairly lightweight cases: one patent on JPEG, two patents on the " "LZW algorithm used in GIF. Now you might wonder how come there are two " "patents on the same algorithm? It's not supposed to happen, but it did. And " "the reason is that the patent examiners can't possibly take the time to " "study every pair of things they might need to study and compare, because " "they're not allowed to take that much time. And because algorithms are just " "mathematics, there's no way you can narrow down which applications and " "patents you need to compare." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "You see, in physical engineering fields, they can use the physical nature of " "what's going on to narrow things down. For instance, in chemical " "engineering, they can say, “What are the substances going in? What are " "the substances coming out?” If two different [patent] applications are " "different in that way, then they're not the same process so you don't need " "to worry. But the same math can be represented in ways that can look very " "different, and until you study them both together, you don't realize they're " "talking about the same thing. And, because of this, it's quite common to " "see the same thing get patented multiple times [in software]." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Remember that program that was killed by a patent before we released it? " "Well, that algorithm got patented twice also. In one little field we've " "seen it happen in two cases that we ran into—the same algorithm being " "patented twice. Well, I think my explanation tells you why that happens." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But one or two patents is a lightweight case. What about MPEG2, the video " "format? I saw a list of over 70 patents covering that, and the negotiations " "to arrange a way for somebody to license all those patents took longer than " "developing the standard itself. The JPEG committee wanted to develop a " "follow-on standard, and they gave up. They said there were too many " "patents; there was no way to do it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Sometimes it's a feature that's patented, and the only way to avoid that " "patent is not to implement that feature. For instance, the users of the " "word processor Xywrite once got a downgrade in the mail, which removed a " "feature. The feature was that you could define a list of abbreviations. " "For instance, if you define “exp” as an abbreviation for " "“experiment,” then if you type “exp-space“ or " "“exp-comma,” the “exp” would change automatically to " "“experiment.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Then somebody who had a patent on this feature threatened them, and they " "concluded that the only thing they could do was to take the feature out. " "And so they sent all the users a downgrade." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But they also contacted me, because my Emacs editor had a feature like that " "starting from the late 70s. And it was described in the Emacs manual, so " "they thought I might be able to help them invalidate that patent. Well, I'm " "happy to know I've had at least one patentable idea in my life, but I'm " "unhappy that someone else patented it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Fortunately, in fact, that patent was eventually invalidated, and partly on " "the strength of the fact that I had published using it earlier. But in the " "meantime they had had to remove this feature." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now, to remove one or two features may not be a disaster. But when you have " "to remove 50 features, you could do it, but people are likely to say, " "“This program's no good; it's missing all the features I want.” " "So it may not be a solution. And sometimes a patent is so broad that it " "wipes out an entire field, like the patent on public-key encryption, which " "in fact put public-key encryption basically off limits for about ten years." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So that's the option of avoiding the patent—often possible, but " "sometimes not, and there's a limit to how many patents you can avoid." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "What about the next possibility, of getting a license for the patent?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Well, the patent holder may not offer you a license. It's entirely up to " "him. He could say, “I just want to shut you down.” I once got a " "letter from somebody whose family business was making casino games, which " "were of course computerized, and he had been threatened by a patent holder " "who wanted to make his business shut down. He sent me the patent. Claim 1 " "was something like “a network with a multiplicity of computers, in " "which each computer supports a multiplicity of games, and allows a " "multiplicity of game sessions at the same time.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now, I'm sure in the 1980s there was a university that set up a room with a " "network of workstations, and each workstation had some kind of windowing " "facility. All they had to do was to install multiple games and it would be " "possible to display multiple game sessions at once. This is so trivial and " "uninteresting that nobody would have bothered to publish an article about " "doing it. No one would have been interested in publishing an article about " "doing it, but it was worth patenting it. If it had occurred to you that you " "could get a monopoly on this trivial thing, then you could shut down your " "competitors with it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But why does the Patent Office issue so many patents that seem absurd and " "trivial to us?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "It's not because the patent examiners are stupid, it's because they're " "following a system, and the system has rules, and the rules lead to this " "result." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "You see, if somebody has made a machine that does something once, and " "somebody else designs a machine that will do the same thing, but N times, " "for us that's a <code>for</code>-loop, but for the Patent Office that's an " "invention. If there are machines that can do A, and there are machines that " "can do B, and somebody designs a machine that can do A or B, for us that's " "an <code>if-then-else</code> statement, but for the Patent Office that's an " "invention. So they have very low standards, and they follow those " "standards; and the result is patents that look absurd and trivial to us. " "Whether they're legally valid I can't say. But every programmer who sees " "them laughs." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "In any case, I was unable to suggest anything he could do to help himself, " "and he had to shut down his business. But most patent holders will offer " "you a license. It's likely to be rather expensive." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But there are some software developers that find it particularly easy to get " "licenses, most of the time. Those are the megacorporations. In any field " "the megacorporations generally own about half the patents, and they " "cross-license each other, and they can make anybody else cross-license if " "he's really producing anything. The result is that they end up painlessly " "with licenses for almost all the patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "IBM wrote an article in its house magazine, <cite>Think</cite> " "magazine—I think it's issue 5, 1990—about the benefit IBM got " "from its almost 9,000 US patents at the time (now it's up to 45,000 or " "more). They said that one of the benefits was that they collected money, " "but the main benefit, which they said was perhaps an order of magnitude " "greater, was “getting access to the patents of others,” namely " "cross-licensing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "What this means is since IBM, with so many patents, can make almost " "everybody give them a cross-license, IBM avoids almost all the grief that " "the patent system would have inflicted on anybody else. So that's why IBM " "wants software patents. That's why the megacorporations in general want " "software patents, because they know that by cross-licensing, they will have " "a sort of exclusive club on top of a mountain peak. And all the rest of us " "will be down here, and there's no way we can get up there. You know, if " "you're a genius, you might start up a small company and get some patents, " "but you'll never get into IBM's league, no matter what you do." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now a lot of companies tell their employees, “Get us patents so we can " "defend ourselves” and they mean, “use them to try to get " "cross-licensing,” but it just doesn't work well. It's not an " "effective strategy if you've got a small number of patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Suppose you've got three patents. One points there, one points there, and " "one points there, and somebody over there points a patent at you. Well, " "your three patents don't help you at all, because none of them points at " "him. On the other hand, sooner or later, somebody in the company is going " "to notice that this patent is actually pointing at some people, and [the " "company] could threaten them and squeeze money out of them—never mind " "that those people didn't attack this company." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So if your employer says to you, “We need some patents to defend " "ourselves, so help us get patents,” I recommend this response:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><blockquote><p> msgid "" "Boss, I trust you and I'm sure you would only use those patents to defend " "the company if it's attacked. But I don't know who's going to be the CEO of " "this company in five years. For all I know, it might get acquired by " "Microsoft. So I really can't trust the company's word to only use these " "patents for defense unless I get it in writing. Please put it in writing " "that any patents I provide for the company will only be used for " "self-defense and collective security, and not for repression, and then I'll " "be able to get patents for the company with a clean conscience." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "It would be most interesting to raise this not just in private with your " "boss, but also on the company's discussion list." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The other thing that could happen is that the company could fail and its " "assets could be auctioned off, including the patents; and the patents will " "be bought by someone who means to use them to do something nasty." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "This cross-licensing practice is very important to understand, because this " "is what punctures the argument of the software patent advocates who say that " "software patents are needed to protect the starving genius. They give you a " "scenario which is a series of unlikelihoods." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So let's look at it. According to this scenario, there's a brilliant " "designer of whatever, who's been working for years by himself in his attic " "coming up with a better way to do whatever it is. And now that it's ready, " "he wants to start a business and mass-produce this thing; and because his " "idea is so good his company will inevitably succeed—except for one " "thing: the big companies will compete with him and take all his market the " "away. And because of this, his business will almost certainly fail, and " "then he will starve." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "Well, let's look at all the unlikely assumptions here." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "First of all, that he comes up with this idea working by himself. That's " "not very likely. In a high-tech field, most progress is made by people " "working in a field, doing things and talking with people in the field. But " "I wouldn't say it's impossible, not that one thing by itself." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But anyway the next supposition is that he's going to start a business and " "that it's going to succeed. Well, just because he's a brilliant engineer " "doesn't mean that he's any good at running a business. Most new businesses " "fail; more than 95 percent of them, I think, fail within a few years. So " "that's probably what's going to happen to him, no matter what." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Ok, let's assume that in addition to being a brilliant engineer who came up " "with something great by himself, he's also talented at running businesses. " "If he has a knack for running businesses, then maybe his business won't " "fail. After all, not all new businesses fail, there are a certain few that " "succeed. Well, if he understands business, then instead of trying to go " "head to head with large companies, he might try to do things that small " "companies are better at and have a better chance of succeeding. He might " "succeed. But let's suppose it fails anyway. If he's so brilliant and has a " "knack for running businesses, I'm sure he won't starve, because somebody " "will want to give him a job." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So a series of unlikelihoods—it's not a very plausible scenario. But " "let's look at it anyway." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Because where they go from there is to say the patent system will " "“protect” our starving genius, because he can get a patent on " "this technique. And then when IBM wants to compete with him, he says, " "“IBM, you can't compete with me, because I've got this patent,” " "and IBM says, “Oh, no, not again!”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "Well, here's what really happens." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "IBM says, “Oh, how nice, you have a patent. Well, we have this " "patent, and this patent, and this patent, and this patent, and this patent, " "all of which cover other ideas implemented in your product, and if you think " "you can fight us on all those, we'll pull out some more. So let's sign a " "cross-license agreement, and that way nobody will get hurt.” Now since " "we've assumed that our genius understands business, he's going to realize " "that he has no choice. He's going to sign the cross-license agreement, as " "just about everybody does when IBM demands it. And then this means that IBM " "will get “access” to his patent, meaning IBM would be free to " "compete with him just as if there were no patents, which means that the " "supposed benefit that they claim he would get by having this patent is not " "real. He won't get this benefit." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The patent might “protect” him from competition from you or me, " "but not from IBM—not from the very megacorporations which the scenario " "says are the threat to him. You know in advance that there's got to be a " "flaw in this reasoning when people who are lobbyists for megacorporations " "recommend a policy supposedly because it's going to protect their small " "competitors from them. If it really were going to do that, they wouldn't be " "in favor of it. But this explains why [software patents] won't do it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Even IBM can't always do this, because there are companies that we refer to " "as patent trolls or patent parasites, and their only business is using " "patents to squeeze money out of people who really make something." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Patent lawyers tell us that it's really wonderful to have patents in your " "field, but they don't have patents in their field. There are no patents on " "how to send or write a threatening letter, no patents on how to file a " "lawsuit, and no patents on how to persuade a judge or jury, so even IBM " "can't make the patent trolls cross-license. But IBM figures, “Our " "competition will have to pay them too; this is just part of the cost of " "doing business, and we can live with it.” IBM and the other " "megacorporations figure that the general dominion over all activity that " "they get from their patents is good for them, and paying off the trolls they " "can live with. So that's why they want software patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "There are also certain software developers who find it particularly " "difficult to get a patent license, and those are the developers of free " "software. The reason is that the usual patent license has conditions we " "can't possibly fulfill, because usual patent licenses demand a payment per " "copy. But when software gives users the freedom to distribute and make more " "copies, we have no way to count the copies that exist." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "If someone offered me a patent license for a payment of one-millionth of a " "dollar per copy, the total amount of money I'd have to pay maybe is in my " "pocket now. Maybe it's 50 dollars, but I don't know if it's 50 dollars, or " "49, or what, because there's no way I can count the copies that people have " "made." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "A patent holder doesn't have to demand a payment per copy; a patent holder " "could offer you a license for a single lump sum, but those lump sums tend to " "be big, like US$100,000." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "And the reason that we've been able to develop so much freedom-respecting " "software is [that] we can develop software without money, but we can't pay a " "lot of money without money. If we're forced to pay for the privilege of " "writing software for the public, we won't be able to do it very much." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "That's the possibility of getting a license for the patent. The other " "possibility is to invalidate the patent. If the country considers software " "patents to be basically valid, and allowed, the only question is whether " "that particular patent meets the criteria. It's only useful to go to court " "if you've got an argument to make that might prevail." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "What would that argument be? You have to find evidence that, years ago, " "before the patent was applied for, people knew about the same idea. And " "you'd have to find things today that demonstrate that they knew about it " "publicly at that time. So the dice were cast years ago, and if they came up " "favorably for you, and if you can prove that fact today, then you have an " "argument to use to try to invalidate the patent. And it might work." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "It might cost you a lot of money to go through this case, and as a result, a " "probably invalid patent is a very frightening weapon to be threatened with " "if you don't have a lot of money. There are people who can't afford to " "defend their rights—lots of them. The ones who can afford it are the " "exception." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "These are the three things that you might be able to do about each patent " "that prohibits something in your program. The thing is, whether each one is " "possible depends on different details of the circumstances, so some of the " "time, none of them is possible; and when that happens, your project is dead." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But lawyers in most countries tell us, “Don't try to find the patents " "in advance,” and the reason is that the penalty for infringement is " "bigger if you knew about the patent. So what they tell you is “Keep " "your eyes shut. Don't try to find out about the patents, just go blindly " "taking your design decisions, and hope.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "And of course, with each single design decision, you probably don't step on " "a patent. Probably nothing happens to you. But there are so many steps you " "have to take to get across the minefield, it's very unlikely you will get " "through safely. And of course, the patent holders don't all show up at the " "same time, so you don't know how many there are going to be." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The patent holder of the natural order recalculation patent was demanding 5 " "percent of the gross sales of every spreadsheet. You could imagine paying " "for a few such licenses, but what happens when patent holder number 20 comes " "along, and wants you to pay out the last remaining 5 percent? And then what " "happens when patent holder number 21 comes along?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "People in business say that this scenario is amusing but absurd, because " "your business would fail long before you got there. They told me that two " "or three such licenses would make your business fail. So you'd never get to " "20. They show up one by one, so you never know how many more there are " "going to be." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Software patents are a mess. They're a mess for software developers, but in " "addition they're a restriction on every computer user because software " "patents restrict what you can do on your computer." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "This is very different from patents, for instance, on automobile engines. " "These only restrict companies that make cars; they don't restrict you and " "me. But software patents do restrict you and me, and everybody who uses " "computers. So we can't think of them in purely economic terms; we can't " "judge this issue purely in economic terms. There's something more important " "at stake." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But even in economic terms, the system is self-defeating, because its " "purpose is supposed to be to promote progress. Supposedly by creating this " "artificial incentive for people to publish ideas, it's going to help the " "field progress. But all it does is the exact opposite, because the big job " "in software is not coming up with ideas, it's implementing thousands of " "ideas together in one program. And software patents obstruct that, so " "they're economically self-defeating." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "And there's even economic research showing that this is so—showing how " "in a field with a lot of incremental innovation, a patent system can " "actually reduce investment in R & D. And of course, it also obstructs " "development in other ways. So even if we ignore the injustice of software " "patents, even if we were to look at it in the narrow economic terms that are " "usually proposed, it's still harmful." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "People sometimes respond by saying that “People in other fields have " "been living with patents for decades, and they've gotten used to it, so why " "should you be an exception?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now, that question has an absurd assumption. It's like saying, “Other " "people get cancer, why shouldn't you?” I think every time someone " "doesn't get cancer, that's good, regardless of what happened to the others. " "That question is absurd because of its presupposition that somehow we all " "have a duty to suffer the harm done by patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But there is a sensible question buried inside it, and that sensible " "question is “What differences are there between various fields that " "might affect what is good or bad patent policy in those fields?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "There is an important basic difference between fields in regard to how many " "patents are likely to prohibit or cover parts of any one product." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now we have a naive idea in our minds which I'm trying to get rid of, " "because it's not true. And it's that on any one product there is one " "patent, and that patent covers the overall design of that product. So if " "you design a new product, it can't be patented already, and you will have an " "opportunity to get “the patent” on that product." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "That's not how things work. In the 1800s, maybe they did, but not now. In " "fact, fields fall on a spectrum of how many patents [there are] per " "product. The beginning of the spectrum is one, but no field is like that " "today; fields are at various places on this spectrum." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The field that's closest to that is pharmaceuticals. A few decades ago, " "there really was one patent per pharmaceutical, at least at any time, " "because the patent covered the entire chemical formula of that one " "particular substance. Back then, if you developed a new drug, you could be " "sure it wasn't already patented by somebody else and you could get the one " "patent on that drug." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "But that's not how it works now. Now there are broader patents, so now you " "could develop a new drug, and you're not allowed to make it because somebody " "has a broader patent which covers it already." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "And there might even be a few such patents covering your new drug " "simultaneously, but there won't be hundreds. The reason is, our ability to " "do biochemical engineering is so limited that nobody knows how to combine so " "many ideas to make something that's useful in medicine. If you can combine " "a couple of them you're doing pretty well at our level of knowledge. But " "other fields involve combining more ideas to make one thing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "At the other end of the spectrum is software, where we can combine more " "ideas into one usable design than anybody else, because our field is " "basically easier than all other fields. I'm presuming that the intelligence " "of people in our field is the same as that of people in physical " "engineering. It's not that we're fundamentally better than they are; it's " "that our field is fundamentally easier, because we're working with " "mathematics." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "A program is made out of mathematical components, which have a definition, " "whereas physical objects don't have a definition. The matter does what it " "does, so through the perversity of matter, your design may not work the way " "it “should” have worked. And that's just tough. You can't say " "that the matter has a bug in it, and the physical universe should get " "fixed. [Whereas] we [programmers] can make a castle that rests on a " "mathematically thin line, and it stays up because nothing weighs anything." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "There're so many complications you have to cope with in physical engineering " "that we don't have to worry about." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, when I put an <code>if</code>-statement inside of a " "<code>while</code>-loop," msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><ul><li> msgid "" "I don't have to worry that if this <code>while</code>-loop repeats at the " "wrong rate, the <code>if</code>-statement might start to vibrate and it " "might resonate and crack;" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><ul><li> msgid "" "I don't have to worry that if it resonates much faster—you know, " "millions of times per second—that it might generate radio frequency " "signals that might induce wrong values in other parts of the program;" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><ul><li> msgid "" "I don't have to worry that corrosive fluids from the environment might seep " "in between the <code>if</code>-statement and the " "<code>while</code>-statement and start eating away at them until the signals " "don't pass anymore;" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><ul><li> msgid "" "I don't have to worry about how the heat generated by my " "<code>if</code>-statement is going to get out through the " "<code>while</code>-statement so that it doesn't make the " "<code>if</code>-statement burn out; and" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><ul><li> msgid "" "I don't have to worry about how I would take out the broken " "<code>if</code>-statement if it does crack, burn, or corrode, and replace it " "with another <code>if</code>-statement to make the program run again." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For that matter, I don't have to worry about how I'm going to insert the " "<code>if</code>-statement inside the <code>while</code>-statement every time " "I produce a copy of the program. I don't have to design a factory to make " "copies of my program, because there are various general commands that will " "make copies of anything." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "If I want to make copies on CD, I just have to write a master; and there's " "one program I can [use to] make a master out of anything, write any data I " "want. I can make a master CD and write it and send it off to a factory, and " "they'll duplicate whatever I send them. I don't have to design a different " "factory for each thing I want to duplicate." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Very often with physical engineering you have to do that; you have to design " "products for manufacturability. Designing the factory may even be a bigger " "job than designing the product, and then you may have to spend millions of " "dollars to build the factory. So with all of this trouble, you're not going " "to be able to put together so many different ideas in one product and have " "it work." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "A physical design with a million nonrepeating different design elements is a " "gigantic project. A program with a million different design elements, " "that's nothing. It's a few hundred thousand lines of code, and a few people " "will write that in a few years, so it's not a big deal. So the result is " "that the patent system weighs proportionately heavier on us than it does on " "people in any other field who are being held back by the perversity of " "matter." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "A lawyer did a study of one particular large program, namely the kernel " "Linux, which is used together with the GNU operating system that I " "launched. This was five years ago now; he found 283 different US patents, " "each of which appeared to prohibit some computation done somewhere in the " "code of Linux. At the time I saw an article saying that Linux was 0.25 " "percent of the whole system. So by multiplying 300 by 400 we can estimate " "the number of patents that would prohibit something in the whole system as " "being around 100,000. This is a very rough estimate only, and no more " "accurate information is available, since trying to figure it out would be a " "gigantic task." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now this lawyer did not publish the list of patents, because that would have " "endangered the developers of Linux the kernel, putting them in a position " "where the penalties if they were sued would be greater. He didn't want to " "hurt them; he wanted to demonstrate how bad this problem is, of patent " "gridlock." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Programmers can understand this immediately, but politicians usually don't " "know much about programming; they usually imagine that patents are basically " "much like copyrights, only somehow stronger. They imagine that since " "software developers are not endangered by the copyrights on their work, that " "they won't be endangered by the patents on their work either. They imagine " "that, since when you write a program you have the copyright, [therefore " "likewise] if you write a program you have the patents also. This is " "false—so how do we give them a clue what patents would really do? What " "they really do in countries like the US?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "I find it's useful to make an analogy between software and symphonies. " "Here's why it's a good analogy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "A program or symphony combines many ideas. A symphony combines many musical " "ideas. But you can't just pick a bunch of ideas and say “Here's my " "combination of ideas, do you like it?” Because in order to make them " "work you have to implement them all. You can't just pick musical ideas and " "list them and say, “Hey, how do you like this combination?” You " "can't hear that [list]. You have to write notes which implement all these " "ideas together." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "The hard task, the thing most of us wouldn't be any good at, is writing all " "these notes to make the whole thing sound good. Sure, lots of us could pick " "musical ideas out of a list, but we wouldn't know how to write a " "good-sounding symphony to implement those ideas. Only some of us have that " "talent. That's the thing that limits you. I could probably invent a few " "musical ideas, but I wouldn't know how to use them to any effect." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So imagine that it's the 1700s, and the governments of Europe decide that " "they want to promote the progress of symphonic music by establishing a " "system of musical idea patents, so that any musical idea described in words " "could be patented." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, using a particular sequence of notes as a motif could be " "patented, or a chord progression could be patented, or a rhythmic pattern " "could be patented, or using certain instruments by themselves could be " "patented, or a format of repetitions in a movement could be patented. Any " "sort of musical idea that could be described in words would have been " "patentable." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now imagine that it's 1800 and you're Beethoven, and you want to write a " "symphony. You're going to find it's much harder to write a symphony you " "don't get sued for than to write one that sounds good, because you have to " "thread your way around all the patents that exist. If you complained about " "this, the patent holders would say, “Oh, Beethoven, you're just " "jealous because we had these ideas first. Why don't you go and think of " "some ideas of your own?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now Beethoven had ideas of his own. The reason he's considered a great " "composer is because of all of the new ideas that he had, and he actually " "used. And he knew how to use them in such a way that they would work, which " "was to combine them with lots of well-known ideas. He could put a few new " "ideas into a composition together with a lot of old and uncontroversial " "ideas. And the result was a piece that was controversial, but not so much " "so that people couldn't get used to it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "To us, Beethoven's music doesn't sound controversial; I'm told it was, when " "it was new. But because he combined his new ideas with a lot of known " "ideas, he was able to give people a chance to stretch a certain amount. And " "they could, which is why to us those ideas sound just fine. But nobody, not " "even a Beethoven, is such a genius that he could reinvent music from zero, " "not using any of the well-known ideas, and make something that people would " "want to listen to. And nobody is such a genius he could reinvent computing " "from zero, not using any of the well-known ideas, and make something that " "people want to use." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "When the technological context changes so frequently, you end up with a " "situation where what was done 20 years ago is totally inadequate. Twenty " "years ago there was no World Wide Web. So, sure, people did a lot of things " "with computers back then, but what they want to do today are things that " "work with the World Wide Web. And you can't do that using only the ideas " "that were known 20 years ago. And I presume that the technological context " "will continue to change, creating fresh opportunities for somebody to get " "patents that give the shaft to the whole field." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Big companies can even do this themselves. For instance, a few years ago " "Microsoft decided to make a phony open standard for documents and to get it " "approved as a standard by corrupting the International Standards " "Organization, which they did. But they designed it using something that " "Microsoft had patented. Microsoft is big enough that it can start with a " "patent, design a format or protocol to use that patented idea (whether it's " "helpful or not), in such a way that there's no way to be compatible unless " "you use that same idea too. And then Microsoft can make that a de facto " "standard with or without help from corrupted standards bodies. Just by its " "weight it can push people into using that format, and that basically means " "that they get a stranglehold over the whole world. So we need to show the " "politicians what's really going on here. We need to show them why this is " "bad." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now I've heard it said that the reason New Zealand is considering software " "patents is that one large company wants to be given some monopolies. To " "restrict everyone in the country so that one company will make more money is " "the absolute opposite of statesmanship." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "So, at this point, I'd like to ask for questions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dt> msgid "Q." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "What is the alternative?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dt> msgid "A." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "No software patents. I know that that works fine. I was in the field when " "there were no software patents. And that meant people developed software, " "and they distributed that software in various ways, and they didn't have to " "worry about getting sued by patent holders for doing it, so they were safe. " "Software patents don't solve a real problem, so we don't need to ask what " "other solution is there." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "How do the developers get rewarded?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Many ways. Software patents have nothing to do with that. Remember if " "you're a software developer, software patents don't help you get whatever " "you want to get." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Different software developers want different things. I developed some " "important software in the 1980s, and the reward I wanted was to see people " "using computers in freedom. And I got that reward, although not totally, " "not everybody has freedom. But software patents would only have stopped me." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Other people developed programs because they wanted money. Software patents " "threaten them, too, and still threaten them, because you're not going to " "make any money if patent holders demand that you give it all to them, or if " "they make you shut down." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "How do you prevent plagiarism and still…" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Plagiarism has nothing to do with this issue. It has absolutely nothing to " "do with this issue." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Plagiarism means copying the text of a work and claiming to have written it " "yourself. But patents are not concerned with the text of any particular " "work. They simply have nothing to do with this." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "If you write a work and this work embodies some ideas, which it always does, " "there's no reason to think that the patents covering those ideas would " "belong to you. They're more likely to belong to lots of others, and half of " "them to the megacorporations, and they can then all sue you. So you don't " "even have to worry [about plagiarism]; long before you get to the point " "where somebody else might copy it, you're going to be getting the shaft." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "You are confusing patents with copyrights, I'm afraid. They have nothing in " "common. I've explained to you what the patent system does to software, but " "I think you don't believe me because you've heard what copyrights do and " "you're confusing the two, so these impressions you've got about what " "copyrights do, you're just assuming that patents do them also—and they " "don't. If you write some code, the copyright on that code would belong to " "you; but if your code implements ideas, if some of these ideas are patented, " "those patents belong to others who could then sue you." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "You don't have to be afraid, with copyright, that when you write code " "yourself, that somebody else already has a copyright on it and can sue you, " "because copyright only restricts copying. In fact, even if you write " "something which is identical to what somebody else wrote, if you can prove " "you didn't copy it, that's a defense under copyright law, because copyright " "law is only concerned with copying. But copyright law is only concerned " "with the details of authorship of a work [i.e., not the ideas it embodies], " "so it has nothing in common with patent law in terms of what it deals with, " "and the effects are totally different." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Now I'm not in favor personally of all the things that people do with " "copyright law, I've criticized it. But it's a totally different, unrelated " "issue. If you think that patent law helps somebody who is developing " "software, it means that you have got a completely wrong picture of what " "patent law actually does." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "Don't get me wrong. I'm on your side." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "OK, but still you've got a wrong picture. I'm not blaming you for it, " "because you've just been misinformed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "If I'm writing software for commercial purposes, do I get good protection by " "treating it as a black box and keeping it secret?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "I don't want to discuss that question because I'm not in favor of it, I " "think it's unethical to do that, but that's an unrelated issue." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "I understand that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "I don't want to change the subject and then praise something that I think is " "bad. But because it's a change of subject I'd rather not get into that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Our Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology, I think they're " "probably the equivalent of your National Science Foundation, provides grants " "for research and development and one of the things that they propose pretty " "actively is that ideas that they have funded should be secured if possible " "by patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "That shouldn't be the case in software, because software ideas shouldn't be " "patentable ever by anyone. But what you are seeing there, more generally, " "is an example of the general corruption of our society by putting commercial " "aims above all others. Now I'm not a communist and I don't want to abolish " "business, but when it becomes business above all, every aspect of life " "oriented towards business, that is dangerous." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "So Richard, if you talk to the Foundation, perhaps you might propose that " "there are better ways for a small country like New Zealand to make money on " "software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Software patents don't help anybody make money out of software. They mean " "that you're in danger of getting sued when you try." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Which makes it difficult for New Zealand as a country to build an economic " "base using software as part of that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Sorry, when you say “which” I don't know what you are referring " "to. Software patents will make it difficult for anyone. If New Zealand " "allows software patents, that will make it difficult in New Zealand for " "anybody to develop programs and distribute them, because you'll be in danger " "of getting sued. Software patents have nothing to do with developing a " "program and then putting it to some use." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "So New Zealand, in terms of its economic development, it would be better " "protected by having no software patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Yes. You see, each country has its own patent system, and they work " "independently, except that countries have signed up to a treaty that says, " "“If you have got a patent in that country, you can basically bring " "your application over here, and we'll judge it based on the year you applied " "for it over there.” But other than that, each country has its own " "criteria for what can be patented and has its own set of patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "So the result is if the US allows software patents and New Zealand does not, " "that means that everybody in the world, including New Zealanders, can get US " "software patents and sue us poor Americans at home. But if New Zealand " "doesn't allow software patents that means that neither you nor we can get " "New Zealand software patents to sue you New Zealanders at home. You can be " "sure that almost all the software patents will belong to foreigners who will " "use them to basically kick any New Zealand software developers whenever they " "get the chance." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "Since the Hughes Aircraft case, I think it was in the 1990s" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "I don't know about that case." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "But basically New Zealand's had software patents. It's not like we're going " "into a field where we don't already have them, we do." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "I don't know, but I'm told that there's a decision being made now at the " "legislative level of whether to allow them. But Patent Offices often " "respond to lobbying from megacorporations through WIPO." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "WIPO, as you can tell from its name, which is the World Intellectual " "Property Organization, is up to no good, because any use of that term is " "spreading confusion. WIPO gets a lot of its funds from megacorporations, " "and uses those funds to bring officials from Patent Offices to idyllic " "resort destinations for training. What they train them to do is twist the " "law to allow patents in areas where they're not supposed to be allowed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "In many countries there are laws and court decisions which say that software " "as such can't be patented, algorithms can't be patented, or " "“mathematical” algorithms can't be patented (no one's quite sure " "what it means for an algorithm to be mathematical or not), and various other " "criteria which if interpreted naturally would rule out software patents, but " "the patent offices twist the law to allow them anyway." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "For instance, a lot of things which practically speaking are software " "patents have the form where they describe a system involving a central " "processing unit, a memory, input/output facilities, instruction-fetching " "facilities, and means to perform this particular computation. In effect " "they've written explicitly into the patent all the parts of an ordinary " "computer, and then they say, “Well, this is a physical system which we " "would like to patent,” but really it's just patenting certain software " "on a computer. There are many subterfuges that they've used." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "Patent Offices will generally try to twist the law into allowing more " "patents. In the US software patents were created by a court decision in " "1982, in the Appeals Court that deals with all patent cases, which " "misunderstood a Supreme Court decision from the previous year, and " "misapplied it. Now it looks like that Appeals Court has finally changed its " "mind, and it's come to the conclusion that it was mistaken all along; and it " "looks like this decision will get rid of all software patents, unless the " "Supreme Court reverses it. The Supreme Court is now considering it, and " "within less than a year we should find out whether we've won or lost." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Should that case be unsuccessful, is there any movement in the States to " "take a legislated solution?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Yes, and I been promoting this for about 19 years now. It's a battle that " "we fight over and over in various different countries." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "Where in your universe do you put the in I4i case?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "I have no idea what that is." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "It's where Microsoft has basically almost had to shut down on selling Word, " "because they were found to have infringed a Canadian patent." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Oh, that one. That's just an example of how dangerous software patents are " "to all software developers. I don't like what Microsoft does, but that's an " "issue that's irrelevant for this purpose. It's not good that somebody can " "sue a software developer and say “I won't let you distribute such " "software.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Obviously we live in an imperfect world, and in some cases we run into the " "issue of software patents. Do you think that we should allow privileges for " "researchers to get around patents in the same way that copyright law allows " "research on copyright material?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "No, it's a mistake to look for partial solutions, because we have a much " "better chance of establishing a full solution. Everybody involved in " "software development and distribution and use, except the ones in the " "megacorporations, when they see how dangerous software patents are, they " "will get behind total rejection of software patents. Whereas an exception " "for some special case will only win support from the people in that special " "case. These partial solutions are essentially distractions. People start " "by saying, “Oh, I'm sure we can't really solve the problem, so I give " "up on that. Let me propose a partial solution.” But these partial " "solutions don't make it safe to develop software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "You wouldn't, however, oppose a partial solution that's not necessarily just " "directed at software patents, so you wouldn't oppose experimental use, which " "may be a good solution for the pharmaceutical patent." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "I wouldn't oppose that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "But what you're saying is that you don't think it's applicable to software, " "just to clarify." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Something that saves only a few of us, or only certain activities, or gets " "rid of half the software patents, that's analogous to saying, “Well, " "maybe we could clear part of the minefield, or maybe we could destroy half " "the mines in the minefield.” [That's an improvement] but that doesn't " "make it safe." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "So you've been speaking the same thing all around the world. How much " "uptake has there been? Have governments changed, or not adopted software " "patents?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Some have. In India a few years ago, there was an attempt to change patent " "law to explicitly allow software patents and it was dropped. A few years " "ago the US proposed a trade treaty, a free exploitation treaty, with Latin " "America. And it was blocked by the president of Brazil, who said no to " "software patents and another nasty thing relating to computers, and that " "killed the whole treaty. That's apparently the whole thing that the US " "wanted to impose on the rest of the continent. But these things don't stay " "dead; there are companies that have full-time staff looking for some way " "they can subvert some country or other." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "Is there any real hard data around what happens in economic terms in the " "innovation communities in countries that have essentially no software " "patents?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "There isn't any. It's almost impossible to measure these things. Actually, " "I shouldn't say there isn't any. There is a little. It's very hard to " "measure the effect of the patent system, because you're comparing the real " "world with a counterfactual world, and there's no way to be sure what would " "happen." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "What I can say is before there were software patents, there was lots of " "software development; not as much as there is now, because of course there " "were nowhere near as many computer users." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd><p> msgid "" "How many computer users were there in 1982, even in the US? It was a small " "fraction of the public. But there were software developers. They weren't " "saying, “We desperately want patents.” They weren't getting sued " "for patent infringement after they developed their programs. But there is a " "bit of [economic] research that I saw that apparently software patents " "resulted not in an increase in research, but [in] a shift of funds from " "research into patenting." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "Do you expect that there would be any interest in trade secrets?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "No. Before there were software patents, a lot of software developers kept " "the details of their programs secret. But they usually wouldn't keep any of " "the general ideas secret, because that they realized that the big job in " "developing good software was not picking your general ideas, it was " "implementing a lot of ideas together. So they would publish, [or] they " "would let their employees publish, in scholarly journals any interesting new " "ideas that they'd had. So now, they'll patent those new ideas. It has very " "little to do with developing a useful program, and just letting people know " "some ideas doesn't give them a program. Besides, most of the ideas, the " "thousands of ideas you've combined in your program, are known anyway." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "To back that up, I was listening to an interview, one of the founders of " "PayPal was interviewed, and he said that he really felt strongly that his " "success was 5 percent idea and 95 percent execution, and that supports your " "point really well." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "I agree." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "Excellent. Richard has here stickers which I believe are free" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "Gratis. And these [other items] are for sale." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><dl><dd> msgid "" "So you're welcome to come down. It's been a great debate—thank you " "Richard." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "This speech is published in <a " "href=\"https://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/\"><cite>Free " "Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard " "M. Stallman</cite></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></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:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. 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:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 2009, 2021 Richard Stallman" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This page is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" " "href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons " "Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""