FSF Europe to EICTIA: Drop support for software patents

"Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, has written a letter to Rudy Provoost, president of the European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association, to explain why software patents are a bad idea. Quoting Bill Gates own observations about the nature of software patents, and presenting an interesting hypothetical about the the state of science today if Pythagoras had developed his theorem under a system where ideas are patented, Grev shreds the duplicitous claims of those who back the legalization of monopoly power to seize and steal ideas through the device of software patents. [...]

"Note: The European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association (EICTA) combines 32 national ICT/CE associations from 24 European countries with 48 direct company members. EICTA altogether represents more than 10.000 enterprises in Europe with more than 2 million employees and revenues of over 200 billion. The Association supports the monopolisation of software ideas heavily. Mr Provoost is president of Eicta and represents Philips Consumer Electronics as Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer."

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