Date: Sun, 12 Aug 90 12:45:08 EDT
From: r...@ai.mit.edu
Subject: Freedom to write programs

Programmers are now coming to grips with the fact that they are no longer free
to write and distribute programs in the United States.  Both user interface
copyrights and software patents create monopolies on large classes of computer
programs, thus restricting the programs that most of us are allowed to develop.

For example, Unisys claims a patent covers compress, which may soon be a
required part of a national standard (POSIX user portability extensions).
Companies delivering the supposedly free X Windows server are being threatened
with lawsuits by two different companies.

The League for Programming Freedom is an organization dedicated to bringing
back this freedom.  The members include professors, students, entrepreneurs,
and many programmers.  Prominent members include Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy,
Robert S. Boyer (known for fast string search), and Guy L. Steele, Jr.

The League advocates the abolition of copyright on interfaces and of software
patents.  It does not oppose copyright as it was understood until a few years
ago--copyright on individual programs.

For more information on the patent threats mentioned above, on the League
position, and on the arguments behind it, write to lea...@prep.ai.mit.edu and
ask for the position papers.

Date: Wed, 15 Aug 90 12:39:52 EDT
From: he...@zoo.toronto.edu
Subject: Re: Freedom to write programs

>For example, Unisys claims a patent covers compress, which may soon be a
>required part of a national standard (POSIX user portability extensions).

As an aside, it should be noted that inclusion of patented technology in
national standards is nothing new, when it is considered the best approach
and when the patent holder is willing to promise reasonable licensing.
(The inclusion of compress in POSIX is, last I heard, conditional on such
a promise from Unisys.) 

A good example of this is Ethernet, overwhelmingly the standard medium-
performance LAN, which is a national standard despite being covered by Xerox
patents.  Almost nobody realizes that Ethernet is patented and that your
Ethernet equipment supplier is paying royalties to Xerox.  This is a good
example of managing patents properly: the inventors profit and the public
interest is nevertheless well served.  Unfortunately, it's not always that way.

                           Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology  utzoo!henry