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Protect Your Freedom--Fight "Look And Feel"

This section is a political message from the League for Programming Freedom to the users of GNU CC. It is included here as an expression of support for the League on the part of the Free Software Foundation.

Apple and Lotus are trying to create a new form of legal monopoly: a copyright on a class of user interfaces. These monopolies would cause serious problems for users and developers of computer software and systems. Xerox, too, has tried to make a monopoly for itself on window systems; their suit against Apple was thrown out on a technicality, but Xerox has not said anything to indicate it wouldn't try again.

Until a few years ago, the law seemed clear: no one could restrict others from using a user interface; programmers were free to implement any interface they chose. Imitating interfaces, sometimes with changes, was standard practice in the computer field. The interfaces we know evolved gradually in this way; for example, the Macintosh user interface drew ideas from the Xerox interface, which in turn drew on work done at Stanford and SRI. 1-2-3 imitated VisiCalc, and dBase imitated a database program from JPL.

Most computer companies, and nearly all computer users, were happy with this state of affairs. The companies that are suing say it does not offer "enough incentive" to develop their products, but they must have considered it "enough" when they made their decision to do so. It seems they are not satisfied with the opportunity to continue to compete in the marketplace--not even with a head start.

If companies like Xerox, Lotus, and Apple are permitted to make law through the courts, the precedent will hobble the software industry:

To protect our freedom from lawsuits like these, a group of programmers and users have formed a new grass-roots political organization, the League for Programming Freedom.

The purpose of the League is to oppose new monopolistic practices such as user-interface copyright and software patents; it calls for a return to the legal policies of the recent past, in which these practices were not allowed. The League is not concerned with free software as an issue, and not affiliated with the Free Software Foundation.

The League's membership rolls include John McCarthy, inventor of Lisp, Marvin Minsky, founder of the Artificial Intelligence lab, Guy L. Steele, Jr., author of well-known books on Lisp and C, as well as Richard Stallman, the developer of GNU CC. Please join and add your name to the list. Membership dues in the League are $42 per year for programmers, managers and professionals; $10.50 for students; $21 for others.

The League needs both activist members and members who only pay their dues.

To join, or for more information, phone (617) 243-4091 or write to:

League for Programming Freedom
1 Kendall Square #143
P.O. Box 9171
Cambridge, MA 02139

You can also send electronic mail to league@prep.ai.mit.edu.

Here are some suggestions from the League for things you can do to protect your freedom to write programs:

Express your opinion! You can make a difference.

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