Mistakes made in the EU as well

Summary: Software patents make an appearance in Europe again, this time in FRAND form

SOMETHING troubling has happened in the Apple vs. Samsung case, which is how Microsoft's subversive club of Android foes (Nokia, Apple, and Microsoft plus smaller trolls for the most part) has been trying to make Android expensive, undermining its principal selling point, The patent-stacking battle, which Microsoft has been wittingly and visibly involved it (Microsoft supports Apple and Oracle of course), now reaches a phase of EU intervention:

EU moves to end smartphone patent wars in landmark ruling

The ruling will help to draw a line under long-running feuds between smartphone makers

Apple propaganda sites have been covering this case, saying that "jurors deciding the outcome of the second Apple vs Samsung trial haven't yet returned a verdict, but their options are limited to a few possible outcomes, ranging from a fiery thermonuclear blast to a wintery new Dark Ages."

Well, "thermonuclear" is a term borrowed from Steve Jobs himself. He strives for thermonuclear outcome. He is as apocalyptic as he is "visionary".

Anyway, here is Richard Stallman's response to the EU's intervention:

The European Union is stopping Apple and Samsung from suing each other for patent infringement.

Unfortunately, its "solution" is a terrible mistake: imposing "reasonable and nondiscriminatory" terms. In practice, this means patent licenses that discriminate against free software by charging license fees per copy, which free software developers can't possibly pay. There is nothing "reasonable" about that.

FRAND, as we have argued for years, is a Trojan horse for software patents in the EU and elsewhere. We need to reject this. Ideally, the EU should just send Apple and its "thermonuclear" ambitions somewhere far away -- a place where the Sun won't shine. Apple is the aggressor here and it is part of a broader plot to undermine Android and Linux rather than outwit or provide technical competition. ⬆