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News
The FFII Workgroup on Software Patents is updating you on its activities and positions on ongoing developments. |
We provide commented links to other news sources separately.
2000 July 4th | Linuxtag for a software patent free Europe |
by PHM | The largest European Linux Fair was strongly influenced by the struggle against the expansion of the patent system toward programming logics, which is currently being pushed by the European patentocracy,in defiance of the Law and against the will of the software industry. Numerous lectures and speeches showed a broad opposition against software patentability which included to some extent even politicains from the German ministery of Economics and decisionmakers at Siemens. Proprietary Software makers view the current patent inflation as a liability and a grave risk for anyone who invests in programming.
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2000 June 13rd | Eurolinux Petition for a Software Patent Free Europe |
by PHM | The Eurolinux Alliance of European software companies and OpenSource associations has launched a campaign to warn European legislators against the dangers of software patents. This campaign is a response of IT associations and software companies to recent hardline proprietarist speeches from the European Commission's Directorate for the Internal Market, which indicated that the Directorate will issue a directive to extend the patent system to software and intellectual methods, completely ignoring the concerns raised by leading software companies and developpers, and refusing even to study the economic effects of software patenting. Previous campaigns to this subject had quickly assembled approximately 10000 signatures from software developpers. The current campaign will go further. Based on clear demands and thourough documentation, the Eurolinux Alliance will submit its petition to the European parlament and use advanced (not yet patentable) e-techniques to let volunteers participate in lobbying the key decisionmakers.
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2000 June 8th | FFII plans swpat conference program for LinuxTag 2000 |
by PHM | FFII has invited renowned patent law specialists to teach computer scientist how to protect themselves against patents by using patents. At the same time FFII is inviting the public to sign petitions and make an all out effort to prevent the EU from legalising software patents in the first place.
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2000 May 29th | EU commissioner restates hardline SWPAT policy approach |
by PHM | The EU-Commmissioner for the Internal Market (DG 15 (http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/)), Frits Bolkestein, promises rapid expansion of the patent system before an audience of patent professionals.
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2000 May 25th | MIT Economists calculate how software patents hamper innovation |
by PHM | Two economists of the Massachusets Institute of Technology establish a theoretical model to predict the occurence of innovation in different technologies, and show why software patents slow down innovation.
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2000 May 18th | German Software Companies ask Government to Oppose Software Patenting |
by PHM | About 40 Representatives of software companies, patent offices, government agencies, IT associations and universities met in the German Ministery of Economics in order to discuss about the effects of software patents on the economy and on information society. Representatives of ID-PRO AG, Infomatec AG, Intradat AG, Phaidros AG, SuSE Linux AG and several smaller companies criticized the granting of software patents by patent offices and demanded that in the area of software only copyright should apply. Representatives of the patent departments of IBM and Siemens as well as patent attornies and patent lawyer associations defended the patenting practise with legal and moral arguments. The FFII contributed to the conference in various ways.
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2000 May 17th | FFII SWPAT Documentation CD ready |
by PHM | At the FFII's annual member conference Bernhard Reiter presented a free CD documentation on Software patents that had been ordered by the FFII and delivered 10 copies for distribution on the next day's conference.
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2000 May 14th | Microsoft prohibits support for patented file format in free software |
by PHM | Upon request from Microsoft, the developper of a GPL'ed Windows video software VirtualDub (http://www.geocities.com/virtualdub/) removed support for the patented Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) from his software. By patenting a trivial format and pushing it as an industry standard, Microsoft is able to prevent the copying of content and thereby attract commercial content providers to its platform.
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2000 May 5th | BMWi lädt zu Konferenz über Auswirkungen der Patentierbarkeit von Software |
by PHM | The German Ministery of Economics is convening a public conference to investigate the economic impact of software patentability on May 18 in Berlin.
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2000 April 17th | Auftrag zur Erstellung einer SWPAT-Dokumentations-CD erteilt |
by PHM | Firma Intevation wird im Auftrag des FFII gegen Zeitaufwandsentschädigung termingerecht zur Berliner Konferenz eine CD zum Thema "Patentrechte und Software" zusammenstellen.
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1999 December 14th | 5 IT-Verbände kritisieren Ausweitung des Patentwesens |
by PHM | Der Förderverein für Informationstechnologie und Gesellschaft (FITUG e.V.) wendet sich in einer Presseerklärung gegen die Pläne der EU und der Unterzeichnerstaaten des Europäischen Patentübereinkommens, den Patentschutz für Software auszuweiten. Diese Erklärung trägt unterstützende Unterschriften von weiteren Verbänden, darunter dem Österreichischen Linuxverband LUGA, dem Virtuellen Ortsverein der SPD und dem Förderverein für eine Freie Informationelle Infrastruktur (FFII e.V.).
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1999 November 18th | Software patent conference in Munich |
by PHM | Our workgroup took part in a conference of patent scholars at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. |
1999 October 20th | EuroLinux delegation meets EU legislators |
by PHM | A delegation of 8 representatives from the sponsors of EuroLinux and its member organisations met the patent legislators of the EU Commission's DG XV in Bruxelles to explain why current EU plans on software patentability are dangerous, and to propose a solution that could be acceptable to all parties.
The delegation was headed by J.P. Smets (French Speaking Association of Users of Linux and Free Software). Travel expenses were paid by the sponsors of the FFII software patent working group, most of whom also sent representatives with letters from their CEOs, in order to express their deep concern about the expected results of the EU plans.
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1999 August 26th | FFII antwortet dem Patentreferenten des Bundesjustizministeriums |
by PHM | Mitte des Monats erreichte uns ein Brief aus dem Bundesjustizministerium, der unsere Bedenken gegenüber den EU-Plänen zu zerstreuen sucht und uns in Aussicht stellt, als eine interessierte Partei in die kommenden EU-Konsultationen mit einbezogen zu werden. Wir haben nach vereinsinterner Diskussion geantwortet. In unserer Antwort legen wir dar, warum wir die Pläne der EU für gefährlich halten, stellen einige Fragen und bieten weiterführende Informationen an. |
1999 July 28th | ZVEI: Software must be patentable |
by PHM | German Electronics Industry Association demands software patents. This press statement was written by a well-known patent lobbyist from Siemens.
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1999 July 24th | Statistics show: software patents granted without serious examination |
by PHM | New statistics from Greg Aharonian show that software patents are issued without serious examination.
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