= German Parliament says: Stop Granting Software Patents =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130422-01.en.html]
The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has adopted a joint motion against software patents. The resolution urges the German government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs.
In the resolution [1], the Parliament says that patents on software restrict developers from exercising their copyright privileges, including the right to distribute their programs as Free Software. Patents help to create monopolies in the software market, and hurt innovation and job creation. The Parliament calls on the German government to make sure that Free Software development is not restricted by patents.
"Software patents are harmful in every way, and are useless at promoting innovation", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe. "We urge the German government to act on this resolution as soon as possible, and relieve software developers from the needless patent-related costs and risks under which they are currently suffering."
Software patents [2] are illegal under the European Patent Convention. Nevertheless, the European Patent Office has granted tens of thousands of patents covering software. As a result, software developers constantly risk being accused of patent infringement. This causes legal uncertainty which is costly for large companies, and potentially deadly for small ones.
The Parliament's resolution reminds the government that, under the EU's Computer Programs Directive, software is covered by copyright, not patents. It calls on the government to finally put the directive's "copyright approach" into practice, and make German law more concrete in this regard. It also points out that the restrictions which patents impose are incompatible with the most widely used Free Software licenses.
For any future initiative to reform European rules on copyright and patents, the Parliament asks the German government to make sure that developers' economic exploitation rights for their programs are not restricted by patents. The government should also push to ensure that software is covered by copyright alone, and that patent offices (including the European Patent Office) stop granting patents on software.
== Contact ==
Karsten Gerloff, Free Software Foundation Europe President gerloff@fsfeurope.org +49 176 9690 4298
== More information: ==
- Joint Motion approved by the Bundestag (in German, PDF) [2].
[1] http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/130/1713086.pdf
- Background on software patents
[2] http://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/swpat.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and involved in many global activities. Access to software determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE.