[en] FSFLA News Issue #12

[Beatriz Busaniche]

FSFLA News
Issue #12
July 2006

     1. Editorial: Software patents in Latin America - Brazil and 
	Argentina headed down a dangerous path?
     2. GPLv3
     3. FSFLA at the University Information System (Argentina)
     4. Participating in FSFLA

....

1. Editorial: Software patents in Latin America - Brazil and Argentina
headed down a dangerous path?

In mid-June, the Argentine media reproduced press releases issued by the
Ministry of Economy as well as by the Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology. The brief text reported that both ministries have joined
efforts in "the creation of a program dedicated to the promotion of the
development of information and communication technologies", through a
foundation which will carry the name of Argentine mathematician Manuel
Sadosky[1]. According to the Ministry of Economy, "once the project is
set in motion, mechanisms will be put in place to provide genuine
funding through agreements with the private sector for the exploitation
of patents".

The goals of this foundation, as was put forward in September last
year[2], include basic research, theoretical studies and applied
research, which will "enable Argentina to develop patents" which in
turn, so they hope, will enable the collection of royalties on them.

These announcements beg the question: ¿is Argentina opening the door
that leads to software patents?

Argentine patent law[3] explicitly says that "plans, rules and methods
for carrying out intellectual activities, for games, or for economic-
commercial activities, as well as computer programs" are not to be
considered "inventions" for the purposed of the law. In other words,
they are not patentable.

Brazilian law is just as explicit in its rejection of software patents,
yet this other Mercosur partner also seems to be headed down a dangerous
path.

During the Second International GPLv3 Conference, which took place in
Porto Alegre, Brazilian lawyer Thiago Tavares Nunes da Silveira warned
his audience that Brazil's patent office is already granting software
patents as "computer-implemented inventions", the same euphemism against
which a long and hard battle was fought and won in the European Union
last year.

Brazil and Argentina seem to be headed in the same direction.

The US experience shows unmistakably that software patents are an
obstacle to innovation and software development[4], regardless of
whether it's free or proprietary software, and they are a direct threat
to the use and development of Free Software.

Neither Argentina, nor Brazil nor any other Latin American country has a
chance to compete in a software development arena that is mined with
patents, artificial monopolies for which our societies are paying a dire
price. The negative impact of software patents grossly outweighs the
highly unlikely potential benefits their proponents suggest.

Software Patents:
      * grant arbitrary monopolies on abstract ideas,
      * stand in the way of innovation, since they allow monopolies on
        ideas which the patent holder hasn't even implemented,
      * prevent the operation of competitive markets, giving large
        corporations a stranglehold on strategic markets,
      * prevent interoperability, thus strengthening the dependency on
        single solution providers,
      * carry their pernicious effects over to other areas of the
        economy
      * discourage the production of useful Free Software programs, out
        of fear of stepping on a legal trap.

FSFLA reminds readers of its Newsletter that software patents are a
threat to Free Software all around the world, and calls on all software
users to act against them.

In order to be effective against this threat in our region, being well
informed is a priority. Here is a list of suggested reading on software
patents and their consequences:

* Pedro Antônio Dourado de Rezende (FSFLA) y Hudson Flávio Meneses
Lacerda http://www.cic.unb.br/docentes/pedro/trabs/LACFREE2005.html
* Beatriz Busaniche (FSFLA) http://www.d-sur.net/bbusaniche/?p=39  
* Richard M. Stallman (FSF)
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/software-literary-patents.html 
* FSF Europa http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/swpat/swpat.es.html 
* FFII  http://swpat.ffii.org/ 
* The League for Programming Freedom
http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/against-software-patents.html
* Video "How Software Patents Work".
http://wiki.ffii.org/SwpatAnim050418En
* Bessen & Maskin 2000: Sequential Innovation
http://swpat.ffii.org/papri/bessenmaskin00/index.en.html


[1] http://www.infobae.com/notas/nota.php?Idx=260109&IdxSeccion=100799
[2] http://www.softwarelegal.org.ar/HTML/prensa/noticias.asp?id=150
[3] http://www.fsfla.org/?q=es/node/50 
[4] http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf 


....
2. GPLv3

Alexandre Oliva and Federico Heinz were in Barcelona, attending the
Third International GPLv3 conference, which aimed at discussing the
progress of the actualization process for the world's most pupular Free
Software License, the GNU GPL.

The event was coordinated by our sister organizations, FSF and FSFE, and
featured the presence of Richard M. Stallman, who did a presentation on
the main goals of the GPL update to version 3. He placed special
emphasis on the issues raised by software patents, Digital Restriction
Management systems, and license compatibility.

Also present was FSF board member and Software Freedom Law Center
director Eben Moglen, who walked through the audience through the main
changes in the current draft of GPLv3.

These presentations were complemented by panels of international
experts, who reported on different aspects and views on the current
license draft, as well as on the update process.

This was the third international conference of the public consultation
process, after the two first were held in the US and Brazil,
respectively. The next and last conference of the cycle will take place
in Bangalore, India on August 23rd and 24th, in an attempt to achieve
maximum international coverage to the update process initiated by the
Free Software Foundation.

More information on the process in the portion of our site dedicated to
GPLv3,( http://www.fsfla.org/?q=node/60 ), and on FSF's GPLv3 site,
( http://gplv3.fsf.org/ ). 

....

3. FSFLA at the University Information System (Argentina)

Thanks to the efforts of the Capital Federal Free Software User Group in
Buenos Aires, Argentina ( http://www.cafelug.org.ar/ ) FSFLA has a new
channel to communicate Free Software's principles and philosophy.
Starting in June, FSFLA will publish a monthly column in InfoSIU, the
Argentine University Information System's newsletter, which reaches all
of Argentina's public universities. 

The first installment of this column carries the title "Software:
cultural technique of our time", and begins "Software is everywhere.
Today, we blindly trust the computer programs that control de operations
of our cellular phones, voting machines, databases, automation systems,
and all kinds of computers which surround us without us even being aware
of it. [...]". http://www.siu.edu.ar/InfoSIU/&edicion=14&nota=85
(in spanish) 
....

4. Participating in FSFLA

We invite activists and people who are interested in spreading the word
and promoting the use and development of Free Software in our region to
join our work teams and activities.

Those who wish to get involved can find instructions in our web site
under "¿Cómo participar en FSFLA?" http://www.fsfla.org/?q=es/node/78  


........

-- 
Beatriz Busaniche
Consejera FSFLA                             http://www.fsfla.org
Fingerprint    57F9 21EF B0C3 2A69 9EA0 D698 28D6 B8AE 2A7D 7321
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