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Por yuri vieira
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28 de agosto de 2003 |
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Tentei entrar num site de letras de músicas e me deparei com o aviso abaixo: This page is temporarily closed in protest against the plan to introduce software patents in Europe. Websites may soon be closed down regularly due to software patents. Software patents can get you prosecuted for publishing texts you wrote yourself! Software patents are a threat to Open Source software.
Companies can and will use software patents in an unpleasant way, because they have money to pay lawyers while open-source software developers don't. Small companies with a tight budget are also likely to suffer.
The use of software patents to protect the investments that a company made in their software is very small. The abuse will be very big (the US is a clear example), partly because patents can be very vague.
There is a big difference with patents on inventions of other nature, such as mechanical, because software can be protected by copyright. And a software invention usually doesn't require big investments. You can think of ten items to patent in an hour (believe me, I have done it). Applying for a patent is just a matter of paying a patent attorney.
Software patents are already applied (and abused) for 'One click shopping' and other basic ideas. We don't want this to happen in Europe too.
The European Government is going to vote on Software Patents on 1 september 2003. On 27 august 2003 there will be a big protest action in Brussels.
More information about software patents on this page.
You may only go to the original page if you are against software patents and are actively doing something about it. Eu particularmente acho um absurdo mais esse avanço do Estado sobre as liberdades individuais. O software, principalmente aquele utilizado na Internet, é praticamente uma linguagem. Ninguém processa ninguém pela utilização, por exemplo, de um neologismo, o qual tem sua função: a transmissão de um novo significado. Se essa lei for aprovada na Europa, logo mais será imitada por aqui e, então, adeus mil e um programinhas que utilizamos para manter nossas páginas na Internet. Claro, adeus também ao rápido avanço desse novo meio de comunicação. As idéias ficarão travadas.
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