The city of Munich has put its Linux plans on hold in
response to fears over software patents.
The city has cancelled a call for bids on the Linux migration
project, called the LiMux Project, planned for July, according to
the city's chief information officer, Wihelm Hoegner.
The city's decision reflects growing concerns in Europe and the
US that software patents could be used to derail open-source
projects, which depend on freedom from intellectual property
licence fees. Such projects also generally do not have the
financial resources or patent arsenals necessary to fend off
intellectual property lawsuits.
At the moment software patents are not allowed in the EU, under
the European Patent Convention, but many believe a directive
currently going through the EU's legislative process could change
the situation dramatically.
"Patent law: patentability of computer-implemented inventions",
known as the software patents directive, would open the floodgates
to US-style software patents, according to critics.
Green Party Alderman Jens Muehlhaus, called attention to the
situation in two motions calling for the mayor of Munich, the
Social Democrat Christian Ude, to analyse how the EU software
patent directive affects Munich's Linux project.
Meuhlhaus said a cursory analysis of the city's proposed Linux
client software turned up conflicts with more than 50 European
software patents. The Foundation for a Free Information
Infrastructure (FFII), which coordinates anti-software patents
activities in Europe, carried out the analysis for Meuhlhaus.
A company holding one or more of these patents could issue a
"cease and desist" order to the Munich government, effectively
shutting the city's computer systems down or forcing the payment of
licensing fees, Meuhlhaus said. In response, the city said it would
halt the Linux project until it could thoroughly analyse the legal
and financial risks.
Munich's decision underlines the dangers posed by allowing
software patents in Europe, according to consultant and developer
Florian Mueller, who works with the German Green Party on software
patent issues.
He said the city of Munich, in its recently-completed
feasibility study, had proved that open-source software could
compete with proprietary software from companies such as Microsoft,
but the introduction of software patents would put this
competitiveness in danger.
"Open-source software will survive any new legislation. The
question is, can it be competitive three years down the line?"
Mueller said. "So far most people have ignored the software patent
issue, saying 'it isn't going to happen to us'. Now they're
starting to see that it is a clear and present danger."
The decision comes shortly after a study found that a total of
283 registered US software patents, including 27 held by Microsoft,
could be used as the basis of patent lawsuits against the Linux
kernel.
The study was funded by Open Source Risk Management (OSRM), a
company that provides insurance against lawsuits related to the use
of open source products, and conducted by patent attorney Dan
Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation and
senior counsel to the Free Software Foundation.
Munich's actions are being closely watched as a bellwether for
the fortunes of Linux in the public sector, in Europe and
elsewhere. Following the city's initial strategic decision to
migrate to Linux, a year ago, the City of Paris ordered its own
investigation into a switch to open source.
The city of Bergen in Norway recently decided to consolidate
older Windows and Unix servers on Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server 8. Other recent wins for Linux include the French Ministry
of Equipment and Allied Irish Banks.
Matthew Broersma writes for Techworld.com