# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/guardian-article.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: guardian-article.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-09-16 16:58+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 "" "Opposing The European Software Patent Directive - GNU Project - Free " "Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "Opposing The European Software Patent Directive" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a> and Nick Hill" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "<em> The European Union software patent directive, which this 2003 article " "opposed, was ultimately dropped by its own supporters after facing lots of " "opposition. However, they later found another way to impose software " "patents on most of Europe: through fine print in the <a " "href=\"/philosophy/europes-unitary-patent.html\">unitary patent</a>.</em>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The computer industry is threatened by a Wild West-style land grab. The " "biggest, richest companies are being assisted by governments to take " "unassailable exclusive control of the ideas that programmers combine to make " "a program." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Our society is becoming more dependent on information technology. At the " "same time, centralised control over and ownership of the information " "technology field is increasing, and mega-corporations with law-given " "dominion over our computers could take away our freedoms and democracy. " "With an effective monopoly on modern software, the largest grabbers of the " "“land” will have control over what we can ask our computers to " "do, and control over production and distribution of information on the net, " "through monopolies that the EU plans to give them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The monopolies are patents, each one restricting use of one or several of " "these software ideas. We call them “software patents” because " "they restrict what we programmers can make software do. How do these " "monopolies work? If you wish to use your computer as a word processor, it " "must follow instructions that tell it how to act like a word processor. This " "is analogous to instructions found on a musical score, which tell an " "orchestra how to play a symphony. The instructions are not simple. They are " "made up of thousands of smaller instructions, much like sequences of notes " "and chords. A symphonic score embodies hundreds of musical ideas, and a " "computer program uses hundreds or thousands of software ideas. Since each " "idea is abstract, there are often different ways to describe it: thus, some " "ideas can be patented in multiple ways." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The US, which has had software patents since the 1980s, shows what this can " "do to development of everyday software. For example, in the US there are 39 " "monopoly claims over a standard way of showing video using software " "techniques (the <abbr title=\"Moving Picture Experts " "Group\">MPEG</abbr> 2 format)." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Since a single piece of software can embody thousands of ideas together, and " "those ideas are arbitrary in scope and abstract in nature, writing software " "will only be worthwhile for those who are rich and have a large software " "monopoly portfolio: those with the war chest and clout to fight off claims " "that might otherwise sink a business. In the US, the average cost of " "defending against an invalid patent claim is $1.5 million. The courts favour " "the wealthy, so even when a small business gets a few patents, it will find " "them useless." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Software patents are being claimed at a tremendous rate in the US. If they " "become legal in Europe, most of those US patents will be extended to Europe " "also. This is likely to have a devastating effect on European software " "development—leading to job losses, a poorer economy, more expensive " "computer use, and less choice and less freedom for the end user. The " "advocates of software patents in Europe, and the probable beneficiaries of " "them, are the patent bureaucracy (more influence on more areas of life), " "patent lawyers (more business from both plaintiffs and defendants), and " "computer mega-corporations such as IBM and Microsoft." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Foremost among the software mega-corporations is Microsoft. Even as part of " "the European commission investigates Microsoft for monopolistic practices, " "another part is planning to hand it an unending series of overlapping " "20-year monopolies. Bill Gates wrote in his Challenges and Strategy memo of " "May 16 1991 that" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><blockquote><p> msgid "" "If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's " "ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a " "complete standstill today. The solution … is patenting as much as we " "can … A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to " "pay whatever price the giants choose to impose." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Today Microsoft hopes to parlay software patents into a permanent monopoly " "on many areas of software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The European commission says its proposed directive on computer-implemented " "inventions will disallow software patents. But the text was actually written " "by the Business Software Alliance, which represents the largest software " "companies. (The commission didn't admit this—we detected it.) It " "contains vague words that we suspect are designed to open the door for " "software patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The text says that computer-related patents must make a “technical " "contribution”; the commission says that means “no software " "patents.” But “technical” can be interpreted in many " "ways. The European patent office is already registering software patents of " "dubious legal validity, defying the treaty that governs it and the " "governments that established it. Operating under those words, it will " "stretch them to allow all kinds of software patents." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Arlene McCarthy, <abbr title=\"Member of the European " "Parliament\">MEP</abbr> for north-west England, has been a key figure " "promoting and acting as rapporteur for this proposed directive. The cosmetic " "changes she has so far proposed do nothing to solve the problem. However, " "the cultural affairs commission's amendment that defines " "“technical” will assure British and European software developers " "that they will not risk a lawsuit simply by writing and distributing a " "software package." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The vague words drafted by the mega-corporations must be replaced with " "clear, decisive wording. Wording that will ensure that our information " "future will not be hijacked by the interests of a few rich organisations." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Please go to <a " "href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20031216123801/http://www.softwarepatents.co.uk\"> " "softwarepatents.co.uk [Archived Page]</a> to learn more, and then talk with " "the MEPs from your region." 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 © 2003, 2013, 2021 Richard M. Stallman and Nicholas R. Hill" 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 ""