[FSFE PR][EN] FSF Europe Newsletter

Free Software Foundation Europe press at fsfeurope.org
Sat Aug 6 15:44:52 CEST 2005


1. European Parliament rejects software patent directive
2. Svenska Linuxföreningen's yearly meeting
3. Summer School on Libre Software in Castellón
4. Jornades de Programari Lliure in Vilanova i la Geltrú
5. Third inter-sessional WIPO meeting in Geneve
6. FSFE at What The Hack
7. Expanding the network of Free Software organisations


1. European Parliament rejects software patent directive

After years of struggle, the European Parliament ultimately rejected
the software patent directive with 648 of 680 votes, sending a strong
signal against patents on software logic and ideas. The Free Software
community should not turn its back on the issue now: the forces that
were pushing for software patentability will not give up. That is why
FSFE and its associates are preparing for the next round in Europe and
the FSFE is taking this struggle to the global level at the United
Nations: We will need your help and support for that work!

Please check out http://fsfeurope.org/help/help.en.html to find out
what you can do.


2. Svenska Linuxföreningen's yearly meeting

Svenska Linuxföreningen (the Swedish linux society) had its yearly
meeting on 2 and 3 July. On the second day, Henrik Sandklef held a
speech titled "Free Software - Free Society".


3. Summer School on Libre Software in Castellón

At a summer school event at the University Jaume I in Castellón, Spain,
Jonas Öberg was invited to present the work of the FSFE.


4. Jornades de Programari Lliure in Vilanova i la Geltrú

"Jornades de Programari Lliure" ("Free Software days") is a Free
Software conference in Vilanova i la Geltrú, Catalonia, organised by
a group of Catalonian Free Software enthusiasts. Karin Kosina gave an 
introduction to 3D programming with Coin3D and held a speech about 
making money with Free Software. 


5. Third inter-sessional WIPO meeting in Geneva

Once again, Georg Greve and Karsten Gerloff found themselves in
Geneva, Switzerland, to participate in the third Inter-Sessional,
Inter-Governmental Meeting (IIM/3) on a Development Agenda for WIPO,
the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation. In his
capacity as co-chair of the WSIS Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks
(PCT) Working Group of Civil Society and on behalf of this global
working group, Georg Greve urged the WIPO to establish clear limits of
patentability on a global scale, excluding areas such as software.

  http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050721.en.html

Again, Karsten's blog is one of the few independent sources of
information about what's going on in these meetings, and Karsten is
facing more and more attacks from representatives of the rightsholding
industry for his unmasking and pointed comments.

  http://www.fsfe.org/Members/gerloff/blog/weblog_view


6. FSFE at What The Hack

Every four years, hackers from across the world come together to camp,
socialise, talk about technology and philosophy -- and fend off the
rain. This year's What The Hack conference/event near Liempde in The
Netherlands remained true to that tradition. For the first time, FSFE
was present at one of these events, with Georg Greve speaking on the
political aspects of Free Software and the work of FSFE, and Karsten
Gerloff explaining the work of FSFE at the WIPO.


7. Expanding the network of Free Software organisations

Building on the contacts made in Syria by Karin Kosina and Jonas
Öberg, Mohammad Khansari joined the FSFE team at this year's
GNU/LinuxTag in Karlsruhe. In personal discussions, Georg Greve and
Mohammad Khansari agreed to sign a cooperation agreement between Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and Teheran's Advanced Information
and Communication Technology Centre (AICTC) to promote Free Software
awareness in the Middle East. FSFE hopes that many more cooperations
and partnerships will be formed and is looking forward to supporting
this process in any way it can.


You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html


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