Community: French Secretary for Industry Against Software Patents

[ Thanks to Hans Schou for this link. ]

Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 19:48:11 +0100
From: Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>
To: Eurolinux <eurolinux@eurolinux.org>
Subject: French State secretary for Industry against SoftPat

"The Administration faster on-line thanks to free software "

Christian Pierret,  State secretary for Industry.

"I already supported personally open-source software, notably at the
university of Metz. I am glad to see French publishers of free
software like MandrakeSoft be successful in the United States. I
support Linux and free software, because they allow faster and more
robust development to put the Administration on-line.  While
commercial software raise the issue of computer security, since one
does not know what is inside.  This is why I am against software
patenting in Europe.  It would kill innovation and reinforce
litigation terrorism, because commercial software multinational
corporations would multiply legal actions against start-ups. "
 
 
Translated by B. Lang from:
 
01 Informatique, N° 1626, 23 mars 2001, page 51

<< L'Administration plus vite en ligne grâce au logiciel libre >>
 
Christian Pierret,  secrétaire d'Etat à l'Industrie.
 
<< J'ai déjà apporté mon soutien personnel au logiciel libre,
notamment à l'université de Metz.  Je suis heureux de voir des
éditeurs français de logiciels libres come MandrakeSoft s'illustrer
aux Etats-Unis.  Je suis un défenseur de Linux et du logiciel libre,
car ils permettent un développement plus rapide et plus robuste pour
la mise en ligne de l'Administration.  Tandis que les logiciels
commerciaux posent la question de la sécurité informatique, puisque
l'on ne sait pas ce qu'ils renferment.  C'est pourquoi je suis contre
la brevetabilité des logiciels en Europe.  Elle tuerait l'innovation
et renforcerait le terrorisme juridique, car les multinationales du
logiciel commercial multiplieraient les procès envers les jeunes
pousses. >>    

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• UK Patent Office: Software Patents Pose No Threat to Open Source, But Should Be Limited(Mar 16, 2001)
• UK Patent Office: Should Patents be Granted for Computer Software or Ways of Doing Business? - The Government's Conclusions(Mar 15, 2001)
• Community: The current stance of the goverment of the Netherlands on software patents(Mar 15, 2001)
• O'Reilly Network: Tim O'Reilly's Open Letter: Rethinking the One-Click Patent(Mar 14, 2001)
• Community: Eurolinux Letter to the European Commission concerning Swpat Consultation(Mar 13, 2001)
• Appeals Court Hands Barnes & Noble.com a Legal Victory over Amazon.com(Feb 15, 2001)
• The Register: Symantec under attack over security patents on incremental software updates(Feb 09, 2001)
• IDG.net: Stallman at Brussels conference; Hague treaty may outflank EU software patent decision(Feb 05, 2001)
• ZDNet UK: AltaVista in search patent threat; prepared to sue "everybody who indexes the web?"(Jan 25, 2001)