----- Forwarded message from John Sullivan johns@fsf.org -----
To: info-fsf@gnu.org From: John Sullivan johns@fsf.org Subject: UK public comment on important issues, due April 21
The UK government has called for public comment[1] on certain copyright and patent issues, some of which are of great importance to the free software community, such as
Copyright -- Digital Restrictions Management (Free software to access DRM'd media must be permitted.) How "IP" is awarded (Software patents should never be issued.)
Since all answers will be posted on their web site, a large number of responses from our community will show up. So please email a response (deadline April 21), and pass the word on to others.
The request for comment embodies the biased assumptions and overgeneralization[2] of the term "intellectual property". (It is a mistake to lump copyrights and patents together as if they were similar.) We suggest that you avoid adopting that term in your response.
[1] http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/978/9B/gowers_callforevidence230206.pdf [2] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml