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From:
[email protected] (Richard Stallman)
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 90 23:54:21 -0500
To:
[email protected]
In-Reply-To: Barry Shein's message of Mon, 31 Dec 90 20:48:56 -0500 <
[email protected]>
Subject: Membership form.
Stand up for Your Freedom to Write Programs
Join the League for Programming Freedom
(Version of December 27, 1990)
Ten years ago, programmers were allowed to write programs using all
the techniques they knew, and providing whatever features they felt
were useful. This is no longer the case. The new monopolies,
software patents and interface copyrights, have taken away our
freedom.
"Look and feel" lawsuits attempt to monopolize well-known command
languages; some have succeeded. Copyrights on command languages
enforce gratuitous incompatibility, close opportunities for
competition, and stifle incremental improvements.
Software patents are even more dangerous; they make every design
decision in the development of a program carry a risk of a lawsuit.
It is difficult and expensive to find out whether the techniques you
consider using are patented; it is impossible to find out whether they
will be patented in the future.
We in the League hope to prevent these problems by abolishing the new
monopolies. The League is not opposed to the legal system that
Congress intended--copyright on particular programs. Our aim is to
reverse the recent changes made by judges, who often explicitly reject
considerations of the public interest. This must be done through
Congress or the Supreme Court--a big job, which needs your help.
The League for Programming Freedom will act against the new monopolies
by any means consistent with the law and intellectual liberty. We
will write editorials, talk with public officials, file amicus curiae
briefs with the courts, and boycott egregious offenders. On May 24th,
1989, we picketed Lotus headquarters on account of their lawsuits, and
then again on August 2, 1990. These marches stimulate widespread
media coverage for the issue. We welcome suggestions for other
activities, as well as help in carrying them out.
Membership dues in the League are $42 per year for programmers,
managers and professionals; $10.50 for students; $21 for others.
Please give more if you can. The League's funds will be used for
filing briefs; for printing handouts, buttons and signs; whatever will
influence the courts, the legislators, and the people. You won't get
anything personally for your dues--except for the freedom to write
programs. The League is a non-profit corporation, but not considered
a charity. However, for those self-employed in software, the dues can
be a business expense.
The League needs both activist members and members who only pay their
dues. We also greatly need additional corporate members; contact us
for information.
If you have any questions, please write to the League or phone
(617) 243-4091. Or send Internet mail to
[email protected].
Richard Stallman, President
Chris Hofstader, Secretary
Steve Sisak, Treasurer
To join, please send a check and the following information to:
League for Programming Freedom
1 Kendall Square #143
P.O.Box 9171
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
(Outside the US, please send a check in US dollars from a bank with
connections to the US, to save us check cashing fees.)
Your name:
The address where we should send League mailings (a few each year):
The company you work for, and your position:
Your phone numbers (home, work or both):
Your email address, so we can contact you for demonstrations or for
writing letters. (If you don't want us to contact you for these
things, please say so, but please give us your email address anyway.)
Is there anything about you which would enable your endorsement of the
LPF to impress the public? For example, if you are or have been a
professor or an executive, or have written software that has a good
reputation, please tell us.
Would you like to help with LPF activities?
The corporate charter of the League for Programming Freedom states:
The purpose of the corporation is to engage in the following
activities:
1. To determine the existence of, and warn the public about
restrictions and monopolies on classes of computer programs where such
monopolies prevent or restrict the right to develop certain types of
computer programs.
2. To develop countermeasures and initiatives, in the public interest,
effective to block or otherwise prevent or restrain such monopolistic
activities including education, research, publications, public
assembly, legislative testimony, and intervention in court proceedings
involving public interest issues (as a friend of the court).
3. To engage in any business or other activity in service of and
related to the foregoing paragraphs that lawfully may be carried on
by a corporation organized under Chapter 180 of the Massachusetts
General Laws.
The officers and directors of the League will be elected annually by
the members.
