[Discussioni] Free Software crucial to competition, regulators in Novell patent deal say

[Francesco Potortì]

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Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:28:23 +0200
From: press a fsfeurope.org

Free Software crucial to competition, regulators in Novell patent deal say

Competition authorities in Germany and the United States today highlighted the fundamental role that Free Software plays for competition in the software market. After several months of discussions, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the German Federal Competition Office (FCO) have allowed a consortium of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and EMC to acquire 882 patents from Novell only subject to conditions clearly intended to prevent their use against Free Software players.

"This is an historic step", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, which was involved in the FCO investigation since the beginning. "The regulators acknowledge that Free Software is crucial to competition; that patent aggression can well be anticompetitive behaviour; and that fear, uncertainty and doubt serve to push smaller competitors out of the market."

= Parallels to Microsoft case - no patent privilege =

"FSFE has been highlighting the danger of software patents for a decade," says FSFE's legal counsel Carlo Piana. In the present transaction, patents play a similar role as they did in the European Commission's antitrust proceedings against Microsoft. Microsoft was forced to disclose its secret protocols, but refused to make them available under conditions that would allow their use in GPL-licensed Free Software. FSFE is glad to see that conversely in this situation antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are recognising the power of copyleft Free Software licenses to preserve competition. 

The decisions by the FCO and the DOJ are also an acknowledgement  that regulatory intervention can be necessary to overcome vendor lock-in and create a level playing field for all market participants. "Patents are not an excuse to avoid antitrust scrutiny. Today's announcements make that clear as daylight" says Piana.

In a hearing at the European Court of Justice next month, FSFE will state its objections to Microsoft's strategy of using patents to limit competition, as Microsoft is appealing the fine of 899 million Euro imposed by the Commission.

FSFE will carefully review the actual  decisions as they become available. "Today's announcements point in a  very interesting direction. It is a success for the intense work done by  FSFE and others, such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative. But the conditions  we've seen are no panacea. The devil will be in the details," says  Gerloff. Intense monitoring by the competition authorities will be  required to ensure that the conditions for the transaction will have the  intended effect.

Contact
  Karsten Gerloff
  President, Free Software Foundation Europe
  Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
  Mail:  gerloff a fsfeurope.org    
        
Resources
  
  US DOJ announcement: http://7thspace.com/headlines/379849/usdoj_cptn_holdings_llc_and_novell_inc_change_deal_in_order_to_address_department_of_justiceandaposs_open_source_concerns.html
  
  German FCO announcement: 
  http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wDeutsch/aktuelles/presse/2011_04_20W3DnavidW261.php
  FSFE statement to German FCO from December 22, 2010
  http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20101222.en.html
  
  FSFE response to questions by German FCO from April 6, 2011
  http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20110406.en.html
  Overview of FSFE's work
  http://fsfe.org/projects/work.en.html

- -- Karsten Gerloff [ ] <gerloff a fsfeurope.org> Free Software Foundation
Europe [ ][ ][ ] [http://fsfe.org] President | | +49 176 9690 4298 Your
donation powers our work! [http://fsfe.org/donate/] Free Software
Foundation Europe e.V. is a German Verein registered at the
Registergericht Hamburg (VR 17030).

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