Hi network operators, Apologies for a non-technical post, but I believe this is an issue of relevance to the NANOG community. EFF is collecting signatures from prominent engineers and technologists for a letter to the US Congress calling for reform of the software patent system to protect inventors and inventive companies against patent trolls, who use patents for extortionate purposes without ever shipping any products. We're doing this now because there is a window of political opportunity to actually get this problem fixed in the next few months. Draft text of the letter is below. If you broadly agree and would like to sign on, please send me a private reply with: - Your name; - A 1-3 line bio that summarizes your main career achievements, which might be a current or past affiliation, RFCs you wrote, networks you built, companies you founded, etc; - Whether you hold US patents; if so, how many you hold, and (if you know them) the patent numbers ============================================================= Dear Senators and Congressmen, We, the undersigned, are a group of inventors, technologists and entrepreneurs. Many of us have founded technology businesses; we have invented many of the protocols, systems and devices that make the Internet work, and we are collectively listed as the inventors on [n thousand] patents. We write to you today about the U.S. patent system. That system is broken. Based on our experiences building and deploying new digital technologies, we believe that software patents are doing more harm than good. Perhaps it is time to reexamine the idea, dating from the 1980s, that government-issued monopolies on algorithms, protocols and data structures are the best way to promote the advancement of computer science. But that will be a hard task, and one we don't expect to happen quickly. Unfortunately, aspects of the problem have become so acute they must be addressed immediately. Broad, vague patents covering software-type inventions--some of which we ourselves are listed as inventors on--are a malfunctioning component of America's inventive machinery. This is particularly the case when those patents end up in the hands of non-practicing patent trolls. These non-practicing entities do not make or sell anything. Their exploitation of patents as a tool for extortion is undermining America’s technological progress; patent trolls are collecting taxes on innovation by extracting billions of dollars in dubious licensing fees, and wasting the time and management resources of creative businesses. Many of us would have achieved much less in our careers if the trolling problem had been as dire in past decades as it is now. Some legislative proposals under current consideration would fix the trolling problem. These include: - Requiring that patent lawsuits actually explain which patents are infringed by which aspects of a defendant's technology, and how; - Making clear who really owns the patent at issue; - Allowing courts to shift fees to winning parties, making it rational for those threatened with an egregious patent suit to actually fight against the threat rather than paying what amounts to protection money; - Ensuring that those who purchase common, off-the-shelf technologies are shielded if they are sued for using them; and - Increasing opportunities for streamlined patent review at the patent office. While subduing the trolling threat, these proposed changes will not fix the software patent problem. Congress should consider ways to stop software patents from interfering with open standards and open source software; from being claimed on problems, rather than solutions; and from being drafted so obscurely that they teach us nothing and cannot be searched. Congress needs to examine the very question of whether their net impact is positive. But for now, we urge you to implement simple and urgently necessary reforms. We believe in the promise of technology and the power of creation to increase access to information, to create jobs, and to make the world a better place. Please do not let patent trolls continue to frustrate that purpose. -- Peter Eckersley pde@eff.org Technology Projects Director Tel +1 415 436 9333 x131 Electronic Frontier Foundation Fax +1 415 436 9993