----- Original Message -----
From: "bpreece1" <bpreece1@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <slug@nks.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 4:03 AM
Subject: Your not going to believe this about Knoppix Url
> http://www.knoppix.com/
>
> Closed because of "Software-Patents"
> In the next few days, the European Parliament will decide about the
> legalisation and adoption of so-called "software patents" in Europe, which
> are already used by large companies in other countries to put competitors
> out of business. This can lead to the termination of many software
projects
> such as KNOPPIX, at least within Europe, because the holders of the over
> 30,000 already granted "software patents" (currently without a legal
> foundation) can claim exclusive rights and collect license fees for
trivial
> things like "progress bars", "mouseclicks on online order forms",
"scrolling
> within a window" and similar. That way, software developers will have to
pay
> the "software-patentholders" for using these features, even in their own,
> completely self-developed applications, which can completely stall the
> development of innovative software for small and medium companies. Apart
> from this, the expense for patent inquiries and legal assistence is high,
> for even trying to find out if the self-developed software is possibly
> violating "software-patents", if you want to continue to market your
> software. Contrary to real patents, "software-patents" are, in the current
> draft, monopolization of business ideas and methods, even without any
> tangible technical implementation.
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked
Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages
posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 18:54:15 EDT