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Economist Critic of Software Patents gets Nobel Prize
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Brussels, Oct 17, 2007 -- The FFII congratulates Eric S. Maskin, an
economist who has long criticised the patenting of software, for
receiving the 2007 Nobel Prize for Economics. Prof. Maskin and two
colleagues receive the Prize for research into the optimal design of
economic mechanisms. By applying his theory to the IT sector, Maskin
demonstrated "that in such a dynamic industry, patent protection may
reduce overall innovation and welfare."
The FFII has consistently argued that the patent model of broad 20-year
monopolies is completely inappropriate for the fast-moving software
sector. In its campaigns against software patents, the FFII has
emphasised that they are an impediment to innovation. FFII president
Pieter Hintjens says, "Software patents freeze innovation in areas where
they are heavily used, such as multimedia or GSM. In unpatented fields,
such as e-mail, web, messaging or peer to peer, innovation is fast,
valuable and promotes competition." Small-and-medium sized businesses are
especially harmed, says Hintjens: "large firms can afford the legal
structures, and the heavy cost of patenting and litigating. Small
innovative firms cannot and are kept out of the market."
Recent studies in the USA also showed that less than 20% of software
startups take software patents, four years after receiving venture
capital investment. FFII founder Hartmut Pilch explains, "software
patents are used by giants such as Microsoft and IP trolls such as
Acacia. We don't see them creating any value for society or economy,
except for some lawyers."
The introduction of software patents in the USA provided a rare
experimental test for Maskin's theory: "... when patent protection was
extended to software in the 1980s, [...] standard arguments would predict
that R&D intensity and productivity should have increased among patenting
firms. Consistent with our model, however, these increases did not
occur."
The Nobel award highlights the solid scientific and economic basis on
which the FFII demands a modern and innovation-friendly patent system.
Thanks to people like Prof. Maskin, our understanding of the effects of
the patent system has progressed, but the European Commission is still
pushing for ever more and cheaper monopolies without any effective limits
to either subject matter or inventivity, and the EPO continues to
"interpret" the European patent law to grant thousands of legally dubious
software patents each year. Both institutions pretend that this is in the
interest of innovation and productivity in Europe, while it in fact hurts
Europe's innovators and industry.
The FFII calls on the Commission to finally acknowledge the insights of
people like Prof. Maskin and abandon its naive proliferation policies:
"How much more proof is it needed? If IT professionals, economists, and
entrepreneurs - and now even a Nobel laureate - agree that software
patents are bad for business and innovation, the Commission should take
the hint and act to abolish software patents."
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Background Information
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Together with his colleagues Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson, Eric
Maskin has been awarded the "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences
in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007", commonly (and inaccurately) known as
"Nobel Prize in Economics".
In a joint paper with James Bessen, Maskin argues that standard reasoning
about patents is not applicable to the software and computer industries.
Whenever innovation is "sequential and complementary" (as is the case in
the IT sector) "imitation becomes a //spur// to innovation, whereas
strong patents become an //impediment//".
The European Commission has been openly pushing for the legalisation of
software patents with the Software Patent Directive in 2004/05 and by its
support for the European Patent Office (EPO)'s proposal for an European
Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) in 2007. The FFII was among the
leaders of successful campaigns against both attempts to open the
floodgates to software patents in Europe.
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Links
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* Nobel Prize Announcement
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2007/press.html
* Bessen, James E. and Maskin, Eric S., "Sequential Innovation,
Patents, And Imitation" (January 2000). MIT Dept. of Economics Working
Paper No. 00-01.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=206189
* Digital Majority article on VC funded software startups
http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-13940/study-shows-most-vc-funded-sof…
* Permanent link to this press release
http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/Economist_Critic_of_Software_Patents_g…
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Contact information
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Benjamin Henrion
FFII Brussels
+32-2-414 84 03
+32-484-566109
bhenrion(a)ffii.org
(French/English)
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About the FFII
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The FFII is a not-for-profit association active in over fifty
countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the
public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, and open
standards. More than 850 members, 3,500 companies and 100,000
supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public
policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual property)
in data processing.
_______________________________________________
FFII Press Releases.
(un)subscribe via https://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/news, or
contact media(a)ffii.org for more information.
Hi again,
On Mon, Sep 24, 2007 at 11:33:38AM +0200, Eric Dondelinger wrote:
> for the next LinuxDays, there will be a "Desktop" track
> where the LinuxDays ask us (LiLux) specifically for help
> with that part. I didn't get any input just yet on what
> "desktop" is to be, but I'll forward any info as soon as
> I get it.
>
> What's for sure is that any submission we might want to
> make will have to be submitted in time via the online
> form that's soon going to be made available. We won't be
> part of the event if we miss that deadline.
>
> Submission deadline: 15.11.2007
>
> Date of the Event: 19th (Tuesday) and 20th (Wednesday)
> of February 2008
The Call for Papers is online by now:
http://www.linuxdays.lu/call-for-papers/linuxdays-2008/
As said in the last meeting, if you'd like to present a
full desktop environment or more specific applications,
please inform us and submit it to the LinuxDays team.
It might be helpful if the application(s) presented
weren't already subject of presentations or tutorials
previously (such as GIMP, OOo, Digikam).
Greetings, Eric
1-Click Rejection Rejected
<http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/28/1216246>
USPTO reexamins the rejection of Amazon's patent... seems that "it
wasn't obvious to them what the Examiner found obvious"
That's pretty bad news upcoming.
Serge
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO, 1991: "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... A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced
to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Serge Marelli, Luxembourg
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
the online edition of the german "Spiegel" magazine is
running a series of articles about a switch to Ubuntu,
starting with:
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/tech/0,1518,506386,00.html
It's in german, written from a beginner's perspective.
Greetings, Eric
Bonjour
Une de mes connaissances cherche pour un projet longue durée chez un de
ses clients un informaticien connaissant BO & Java/JSP
- un univers BO à maintenir
- une application JSP en ligne permet aux end users de sélectionner
divers critères afin de construire une requête qui va interroger la
base pour construire un rapport statistique.
ça intéresse quelqu'un ?
Serge
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO, 1991: "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... A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced
to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Serge Marelli, Luxembourg
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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I already ordered one :)
Don't tell me wife ;)
For immediate release, thank you to pass the info.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
*
*
KYSOH ANNOUNCES THE BETA RELEASE OF TUX GADGETS MANAGER**
Transforming Tux Droid in a real smart companion *
*Mons, Belgium, September 19, 2007*– Revealed at OSCON 2006 and
Commercialized in March 2007, Tux Droid quickly became very popular in
Europe. He made the cover of magazines in France, Germany and Italy.
Launched as a wireless programmable robot specifically designed for the
Linux platform, Tux Droid becomes today a smart companion providing a
new way to access the digital world without sitting in front of your
computer. Looking as a cute penguin resembling the Linux mascot, Tux
Droid reacts to PC events and talks in more than 10 different languages.
Based on the widgets principle, Tux Gadgets are mini-applications that
reside on users desktops and delivers a variety of personalized
information such as email, weather forecast, horoscope, media player,
news, games, quizz etc. through Tux Droid. The Gadgets are easily
accessible with the remote control. In order to manage easily the
different gadgets, Kysoh has also developed a graphical interface called
Tux Gadgets Manager. These gadgets are developed in a TGF (Tux Gadget
Format) format, made in the spirit of ODF file and provides a wide range
of actions such as :
*
Let users modify and configure Gadgets without any programming skills.
*
Let users modify easily the graphical interface to customize it as
they want.
*
Let users add new gadgets (available on the community website) by
a simple drag and drop.
*About Tux Droid*
Linux is becoming more than just a free operating system for the masses.
Geeks and open source enthusiasts are quite persistent when it comes to
use Linux on every possible electronic device. PDA’s, I-pod’s even
Sony’s AIBO, no electronic gizmo remains safe for the Linux community.
And naturally the electronics suppliers are rarely very forthcoming with
information on how to get Linux inside their protected products.
And it’s exactly at this point Kysoh makes the difference. Tux Droid is
a smart device talking, squawking, wings flapping, eye flashing penguin
that you can control remotely. Send it events or updates about website
or have it read your RSS streams as they come in with the built-in
text-to-speech synthesizer. WiFi is not a requirement as it comes with
its own wireless solution you can plug in any USB port. The architecture
is completely open; all software, codes, scripts and datasheets are
provided freely on the community website www.tuxisalive.com
<http://www.tuxisalive.com/>.
Tux Droid is also provided with a complete toolkit allowing programmers
to develop their own functionalities:
*
Let Tux Droid dance when you get an e-mail
*
Use its infra-red to program Tux Droid as a guard dog to scare
away intruders
*
Program Tux Droid to function as an alarm clock
*
Take Tux Droid to your bathroom and listen to any broadcast radio
*
With its remote control, simply use Tux Droid as a remote control
for your PC
*
With its full duplex 2.4 GHz wireless link, use Tux Droid as a
wireless VOIP
With an ever growing community, you can also find every week new scripts
(and very soon new gadgets) on the community website.
*About Tux Gadget Manager*
TGF files take the format of a ZIP compressed archive containing a
number of files and directories as the graphical resources, the content
internationalization, the scripts, the sounds etc. These gadgets are
executable by the Tux Applications Framework. This amazing framework is
an application launcher dedicated to Tux Droid. It allows to execute
several applications in the same time and to share the resources
provided by the daemons. In order to manage easily the different
gadgets, Kysoh has also developed a Meta-Gadget called Tux Gadgets
Manager. This meta gadget is based on the same TGF format and run on the
top of the framework. Users can then also modify easily the Tux Gadgets
Manager to customize it as they want. The manager offers a vocal menu
and shortcuts to access the different gadgets through the remote control.
*
About Kysoh*
Kysoh SA was founded in the summer of 2005 with the goal to develop and
market high tech electronic devices for the Linux community. The product
line will range from cutting edge programmable interfaces for personal
computers to stand alone electronic entertainment devices. Kysoh wants
to become a premiere provider of entertainment solutions for the Linux
and the Free Software community. They plan to offer high quality, funny
and unusual products integrating new technologies and dedicated to
entertainment for an affordable and moderate price.
Tux Droid is now exclusively sold through the website of the company:
_www.kysoh.com <http://www.kysoh.com/>_. The price is 79 Euros.
*Media contact*
Kysoh SA
Rue René Descartes, 1 Hall 4
B-7000 Mons
Belgium
Ph.: +32 65 595626
Fax: +32 65 595636
E-mail: info(a)kysoh.com
Website: _www.kysoh.com <http://www.kysoh.com/>_
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is not a Spam, if you don't want to receive any info about Tux
Droid, please feel free to reply to this e-Mail.
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Our next meeting is on _Friday_ September 28th in the LGL.
Pitt will present us Joomla, focussing especially on our new Lilux site.
(Yes, this is really Friday. It's not a typo; for Pitt it is easier to do
it on Friday)
Alain
Article "Informatique et dictatures"
Voir page 15.
http://bfrere.net/Phenomensal/Pheno_2007_02.pdf
--
Brent Frère
Private e-mail: Brent(a)BFrere.net
Postal address: 58, rue d'Esch
L-3720 Rumelange
Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
European Union
Phone: +352-20.20.22.69
Fax: +352-26.30.05.96
URL: http://BFrere.net
If you have problem with my digital signature, please install the appropriate authority certificate by browsing https://www.cacert.org/certs/root.crt.