Public Policy and Open Source Software
Red Hat's Corporate Affairs works to advance the development of public policy and protect the use of open source software around the world. Our top worldwide policy issues fall into three major categories: education, intellectual property, and open source adoption. To learn more, sign up for the Open Source Now mailing list or visit other important open source policy-related sited listed below.
Red Hat also strives to raise the level of dialog about key policy issues that affect open source. In November 2005, Red Hat and the University of North Carolina co-hosted a symposium on Intellectual Property, creativity, and the innovation process. Artists, lawyers, academics, government representatives, and industry leaders from across the country met in Chapel Hill, NC to discuss important intellectual property issues.
Current policy issues
Red Hat is interested in policies and legislation that relate to education, intellectual property, and open source adoption. We advocate for sound and balanced purchasing practices by governmental agencies. We believe in a patent and copyright system that does not artificially bar innovation or restrict fair use.
Some of the current policy issues in the news are:
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Open Document Format (ODF)
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In September 2005, the Information Technology Division of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts published its Enterprise Technical Reference Model, v 3.5 (ETRM). The ETRM mandates the use of ODF and PDF for office documents created and saved by executive branch state agencies effective January 1, 2007. The stated purpose of the use of ODF is to insure that state documents will be accessible to the public for the immediate and distant future. ODF is an open standard supported by many companies, including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Novell, and Red Hat, and used in OpenOffice and StarOffice.
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Red Hat and others are working to make sure that the ODF decision is preserved in Massachusetts, and Red Hat is interested in working with other states and countries that want to adopt ODF to preserve their public documents. Red Hat is a member of the ODF Alliance whose goal is to promote and advance the use of open document format.
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Learn more about the ETRM.
Learn more about the ODF Alliance.
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EU Patents
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The European Parliament prevented the passage of software patents in 2005. Red Hat formed a coalition with MySQL and 1und1 to fight the passage of software patents. In early 2006, the European Commission has opened a round of consultations on protecting intellectual property in the European Union, which may lead to another attempt to pass software patents for the European Union.
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Learn more information.
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US Patent Reform
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The United States Congress is considering reforms to the US patent system; the major piece of legislation on patent reform in the Congress is HR 2795, entitled "The Patent Reform Act of 2005" and introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) along with 11 cosponsors. The most significant provisions of HR 2795 include:
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- Adoption of a First-to-File System instead of the current first-to-invent system.
- Post-Grant Opposition Period that would allow a party to challenge the patent within nine months of its issuance or within six months after receiving notice from a patent holder alleging infringement.
- Duty of Candor places the burden on the filer to disclose information about the invention that may affect the patent ability of the invention.
- Willful Infringement makes it harder for the patent holder to claim that someone else willfully infringed on their patent by raising the burden of proof.
- Injunctions. The legislation would also make it harder for a patent owner to obtain an injunction against an accused infringer.
Take Action
Your turn. This is your chance to get on the mailing lists, write letters to your representatives, and make your concerns known. Start here:
- 1. Sign up
- Join the Open Source Now mailing list where educators and individuals from Red Hat and the open source community discuss issues that affect open source.
- 2. Stay informed
- Sign up for other mailing lists like Linux in Public Education or check out the following sites to keep current.
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www.eff.org
www.governmentforge.org
www.oss-institute.org
www.digitalconsumer.org
www.freedom-to-tinker.com
