Richard Stallman Near the European Patent Office (EPO) in 3 Days From Now
"Richard Stallman, a leader in the Unix world, calls for a boycott of Amazon.Com. "Please do not buy anything from Amazon until they stop using this patent to threaten or restrict other Web sites." I agree. I can live without 1-Click ordering. I can't support what Amazon is doing. Please join me in telling Amazon and other predatory patent holders that it's a bad idea to use patents as a competitive weapon." -Dave Winer, 1999
"Further, as in the music industry, the software industry has too many middlemen. By allowing legal monopolies, lawyers will take over the high tech industry, and product developers, such as Stallman and myself, will find it impossible to create new products without designing them in conjunction with lawyers. This phenomenon can already be seen in the WAP market." -Dave Winer, 2000
"If only the nontrivial new ideas are off limits for 20 years, that will be enough to keep us 20 years behind the times." -Tim O'Reilly talks with Richard Stallman on patents
Dr. Stallman's next talk in Europe is next the EPO in Munich [1, 2, 3]. It'll be a good opportunity for patent examiners to listen, ask questions, and maybe greet him in person.
He's no stranger to the perils of software patents. █
Image credit: Lunch with Richard Stallman by Britta Wülfing