FSFE-IE June 2003

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7 participants
8 discussions

Patents vote Postponed to September 1st
by Ciaran O'Riordan 30 Jun '03

30 Jun '03

Great News. The European Parliment vote on the software patents directive has been moved back to it's original date of September 1st. All the info is at: http://swpat.ffii.org/news/03/plen0626/index.en.html So we have an extra two months to get organised and educate our MEPs. This also indicates that a substantial number of MEPs are curious about the issue. I can't find anything on the EP website to confirm this but FFII point to the June 30th schedule (which has no mention of a software patents vote) as proof that the date has been changed: http://www3.europarl.eu.int/ap-cgi/chargeur.pl?APP=IRIS+PRG=REPRIEF+FILE=RE… Ciaran O'Riordan

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Re: [Fsfe-ie] Patents: time to do something
by jm＠jmason.org 30 Jun '03

30 Jun '03

"sobriquet" writes: >I've been emailing the various MEPs regarding the Software Patents vote, and >I've got some good responses. An assistant for Pat Cox made noises about how >the Liberal Group (of which Cox is a member) has no set position, but that >they have fought software patents in the past: "MEPs in the Liberal Group on >the relevant committees (Legal Affairs Committee and Culture Committee) have >voted against the patenting of computer programs "shall not be patentable >inventions involving computer programs which implement business, >mathematical or other methods, which inventions do not produce any technical >effects beyond the manipulation and representation of information within >computer system or network"." > >Which seems to be good news. > >I got an odd reply from Dana Scallons' office though. An assistant of hers >(Brooke Wilkins), promised to pass on my 'concern' when Mrs Scallon is >available, but replied with the following: "I have found some information >that may be helpful to you. The legislation has already been voted on in >Parliament. The MEPs ammended the proposal so that a patent could not be >obtained for every simple computer program. The proposal is now awaiting a >vote in the Commission in the DG Internal Market." > >I've emailed asking for clarification - details of the supposed vote. I >think it may just be crossed wires though. Could anyone on the list clarify >this? It sounds like much of the Arlene McCarthy camp is couching this proposal in the *opposite* terms from its reality; ie. that it makes it *less likely* to allow sw to be patented alone. But the reality (according to FFII/Eurolinux and the Greens) is that the language in fact makes that situation *less clear* and would as a result allow software to be patented more easily than it currently is. Basically it leaves more up to the interpretation of the EPO, which has already indicated that they'd probably like to allow sw patenting -- so clear text would be a better option. It's something to do with how "technical" is defined. As you can see, that's a pretty amorphous term. ;) This can cause a lot of trouble for lobbying I think -- see the FFII web pages for details. --j.

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Patents: time to do something
by Ciaran O'Riordan 28 Jun '03

28 Jun '03

A Call for Action: The software patents vote happens on the 30th of this month. We are losing this battle and we are losing because we didn't bother fighting. If you want to do something to help Free Software, this is it. Not many people are doing anything. This means YOU are elected. All Irish MEPs have to be contacted. Please coordinate on this list. Using the phone is better than email, email is easily ignored. In my experience, you will usually get an answering machine. Have a short, useful message planned, and tell them that you are sending them an email with information and links to useful webpages. Be informed. Read as much as you can about this issue. http://swpat.ffii.org is the definitive resource for this issue. The website is horrible but that's where the info is. http://www.softwarepatents.co.uk/ is another good page for info about the (bad) effects of software patents. The list of irish MEPs is available at: http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/owa/p_meps.short_list?ilg=EN&ictry=IE&ipol… The debate centres around Article 52 of the ECP (European Patent Convetion), which says that "programs for computers" are in the list of things that "shall not be regarded as inventions". This seems pretty clear to me, but currently our MEPs are being asked to remove the legal amibiguity by clarifying that the opposite it true. Please plan your actions and get on the phone. Mail this list to say what responses you are getting, who has been contacted etc. Also mail this list if you have questions about the issues. You will have to do some research but I/we can help you with most questions. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), together with the Green Party EFA have put together a good alternative proposal. It's a good idea to point MEPs to this page: http://swpat.ffii.org/analysis/epc52/index.en.html I hope to hear from you soon. Ciaran O'Riordan (and come to our July 2nd meeting, we have 4 going so far)

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small Irish Free Software gathering, RSVP
by Ciaran O'Riordan 23 Jun '03

23 Jun '03

Hello all, This list was created to foster some kind of Free Software community in Ireland, so to get things started, how about a small pub gathering so that we can find out who we are? A Dublin city pub will be easiest for the majority to reach, non-dubliners could maybe start a thread to find out what other counties could host similar meetings. So, the proposal is: Wednesday, the 2nd of July, at around 1930, in Messr Maquires. Topics for discussion could include: FreeSoftware adoption in Government/Schools, Legal Threats such as software patents (and what we can do), FreeSoftware projects people are working on, Work that the FSF wants volunteers to help out with, etc. But the main goal is to find out who's interested in doing something. Who's interested in coming along?

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Re: [Fsfe-ie] Patents: time to do something
by jm＠jmason.org 22 Jun '03

22 Jun '03

Ciaran O'Riordan said: > The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), > together with the Green Party EFA have put together a good > alternative proposal. It's a good idea to point MEPs to this > page: > http://swpat.ffii.org/analysis/epc52/index.en.html damn, I didn't see that page! :( the ffii.org site needs a bit of work on their front pages... so is that the official FFII/Eurolinux suggestion at the moment? Where is the discussion occuring at the moment? I've emailed Nuala Ahern, Pronnsias De Rossa, Avril Doyle and Patricia McKenna so far. (email because I'm in the US these days -- but hey, I want to be able to code when I get back to Ireland ;) - Nuala Ahern responded straight away, with a very positive reply; good news. - Patricia McKenna I mailed last week, and haven't received a reply (and I voted for her last time; guess I'll be voting for someone else next time around.) - Pronnsias and Avril I've just mailed, so I don't know what the results will be. Here's one example of what I mailed BTW. Might be useful for reference. Some could probably be updated with the latest stuff from above, but fundamentally, urging the MEPs to support the Green position, or the FFII/Eurolinux position, is the best advice IMO. > Dear Ms. Ahern, > > I am writing in opposition to the proposal being advanced by the EC > regarding patentability of software, and the relaxation of current EU > regulations on this: directive proposal COM(2002)92 2002/0047. > > I'm a native of Ireland, temporarily residing in the US (but intending to > return in a year or two). During my time in Ireland, I've spent 10 years > working in the software industry, including some time developing software > for Iona Technologies and a few other small, Irish technology companies. > (My full CV is at http://jmason.org/cv.html if you're curious.) > > In addition, I am the author of what is probably the most significant > piece of Open Source software to emerge from Ireland, "SpamAssassin", the > leading spam-email filtering product. > > I'd like to note that the software I've worked on, whether commercial or > open-source, has universally been built on free foundations; patent-free > standards, patent-free operating systems, and has never required the > patenting of software techniques in its operation. In fact, we have > generally found that if we had used software patents, we would have > alienated our potential partners in terms of gaining interoperability and > standardisation, both of which are key factors for a small company > developing software. > > In my experience in following the US software development arena, software > patents have been repeatedly used by large companies with massive legal > teams, to stifle competition from other companies, especially smaller > SME-scale ones, who cannot afford the high fees required to register or > fight patents. > > It's also worth noting that Open Source software is directly threatened by > patenting. Leaked documents from Microsoft have recently noted that they > see patents as a key battleground where they can destroy Open Source > competition. > > Open Source is, in my experience, one where Irish and European software > developers can compete with the large US companies on a level playing > field; the success of SpamAssassin as a mail filtering tool -- even though > it was mainly developed by myself, alone, in Dublin -- as well as many > other European software companies basing their businesses on Open Source > -- demonstrates this. > > We as Europeans should support Open Source as an important aid for the > European software industry. In my opinion, it has been the biggest > breakthrough in the field in the last 10 years. > > Next: regarding "obvious" patents. While monitoring the US software > arena, I have noted a range of several patented techniques which are > trivial and thorougly obvious to one versed in software development > techniques. It's clear that, in the US at least, the patent examiners are > not capable of examining software patents sufficiently. > > I myself have been forced to avoid implementing some obvious features, in > my Open Source software development work, which would have infringed on US > patents which should never have been granted due to their obviousness (at > least "obvious to one versed in the field", as the rule goes). > > And, looking at the 'European Software Patents Horror Gallery' at > the EuroLinux.org site [1], it seems the US PTO is not alone in this. > > [1]: http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/samples/index.en.html > > Given this, I have very little confidence that, were rules on the > trivial and thorougly obvious to one versed in software development > techniques. It's clear that, in the US at least, the patent examiners are > not capable of examining software patents sufficiently. > > I myself have been forced to avoid implementing some obvious features, in > my Open Source software development work, which would have infringed on US > patents which should never have been granted due to their obviousness (at > least "obvious to one versed in the field", as the rule goes). > > And, looking at the 'European Software Patents Horror Gallery' at > the EuroLinux.org site [1], it seems the US PTO is not alone in this. > > [1]: http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/samples/index.en.html > > Given this, I have very little confidence that, were rules on the > patentability of software to be relaxed in Europe, that the patents > granted would be in any way advantageous to myself or other European > software developers or software development SMEs. > > Therefore, I strongly urge you as an MEP to not support this initiative. > I am convinced that it would directly harm the business of Irish software > SMEs, and would directly pose the biggest threat to the emerging model of > Open Source software development in Europe. > > In addition, I urge you to support the EuroLinux Call For Action, at > http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/demands/index.en.html , and > the Green/EFA position on same: > http://www.greens-efa.org/en/press/detail.php?id=1383&lg=en . --j.

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Europarl to press ahead quickly with swpat decision: vote on June 30th
by Justin Mason 20 Jun '03

20 Jun '03

Hi FSF-IE! If you haven't been following this, it looks like software patents will soon be legalised in Europe thanks to some pro-patent lobbying -- the plenary debate is to take place on June 30th. I would suggest lobbying our MEPs quickly before this takes place. --j. ------- Forwarded Message Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 15:35:51 +0200 From: Hartmut Pilch <phm(a)a2e.de> To: news(a)ffii.org cc: patents(a)aful.org Subject: [ffii] Re: [Patents] Europarl to press ahead quickly with swpat decisi on, thanks to PSE FFII News -- For Immediate Release -- Please Redistribute +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ > According to > > http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/oeil/oeil_ViewDNL.ProcedureView?lang=2&pro cid=5974 > > the plenary debate and with it probably the vote in the European > Parliament about the proposed software patentability directive as amended > by JURI > > http://swpat.ffii.org/news/03/juri0617/ > > will take place in 10 days According to http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/oeil/oeil_ViewDNL.ProcViewByNum?lang=1&amp ;procnum=COD020047 they chose June 30th as the day of plenary decision. -- Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance tel. +49-89-18979927 Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation http://swpat.ffii.org/ 145,000 votes 400 firms against software patents http://noepatents.org/ _______________________________________________ News mailing list (un)subscribe via http://petition.ffii.org/ News(a)ffii.org http://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/news ------- End of Forwarded Message

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small Irish Free Software gathering, RSVP
by Ben Klaasen 20 Jun '03

20 Jun '03

Hi - Yes, I'll be there. I'm interesting in discussing ways of making Free Software principals accessible to politicos so that they understand the ramifications of software patents in europe. I also enjoy Guinness and Tayto Salt 'n' Vinegar. regards Ben

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Issues of interest
by Ciaran O'Riordan 01 Jun '03

01 Jun '03

Hello all. Ireland is one of the few European coutries that doesn't have a Free Software organisation so I thought this forum would be a good start. Items that would probably be of interest to this list: 1) Would people be interested in hosting Free Software booths at trade shows? 2) Co-ordinating the lobbying of Irish MEPs to vote against allowing software patents in the EU? 3) Do people have questions about Free Software or related issues that they can't find an answer for? 4) Organising a "20 years of the GNU Project" drinking session for the 27th of September? 5) Help or feedback about peoples Free Software projects? 6) Organise local small-scale gatherings of interested parties? (Pub/coffee/meal) 7) Help/advice for getting Free Software adopted withing particular companies or schools? 8) anything else? (It would probably be best to start a new thread for a particular topic) Ciaran O'Riordan

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FSFE-IE June 2003