3.1.2. Public Money, Public Code

With immediate effect, public authorities must switch, where possible, to using Free and Open Source software.

Any patent on software functionality may only be awarded subject to full disclosure of all source code related thereto.

Public funding of Free and Open Source software platforms or core technologies should be envisaged.

Mid- and Long-term Measures

The mid and long-term measures around Intellectual Property are all based on the same principles:

• the cycle of “socialising costs and privatising benefits” that currently exists must be broken
• the privatisation of benefits through the state-enforced monopolies of Intellectual Property rights must be reduced in terms of scope and duration

Innovation that is funded by public money should remain accessible to all, by default under the most permissive license systems. In practice, we propose the following principles and practical steps.