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| Dutch Parliament leads increasing opposition to EU Council decision among other goverments |
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By brian, Section News
Posted on Sat Jul 10th, 2004 at 11:54:20 GMT |
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[From FFII] The European Commission's CORDIS news service has reported that the decision of the "political agreement" of the Council of Ministers on software patents is losing support among other national governments, including Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Portugal, following the withdrawal of the Netherlands vote by the Dutch Parliament. The original story can be found at Cordis.lu.
(3 comments) Comments >>
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| Open Letter to the Fraunhofer Institute concerning software patents |
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By brian, Section News
Posted on Sat Jul 10th, 2004 at 11:54:10 GMT |
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Georg Greve, the president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, has written an open letter to the Frauenhofer Institute, most widely known for its patents on the MP3 audio compression standard, outlining the dangers to research and innovation posed by software patents.
As an illustration, the letter points out that 60% of Frauenhofer Institute orders come from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while current economic research indicates that software patents irreversibly damage the SME sector, by allowing only a few large enterprises to gain a dominant market position and block related competing innovations. The full letter is available from FSFEurope.org.
(2 comments) Comments >>
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| FSF Europe Newsletter |
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By brian, Section News
Posted on Sat Jul 10th, 2004 at 11:52:01 GMT |
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FSF Europe has published its monthly newsletter for July, with stories covering Georg Greve in South America, the Wizards of OS conference, and support from Firenze Tecnologia among others. The full newsletter is available from FSFEurope.org.
(3 comments) Comments >>
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| AFFS, UKCDR & FFII-UK campaign training day (17 July, Reading UK) |
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By brian, Section News
Posted on Thu Jul 8th, 2004 at 14:43:52 GMT |
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The UK's Association for Free Software (AFFS) is participating in a campaign training day alongside UKCDR and FFII, and has a number of free spaces to offer to members who wish to attend. The training day will take place on July 17th, 10.30am - 5pm, in Reading, and will cover basic grassroots campaigning theory, with workshops and practical discussions relevant to software freedom and digital rights. Registration is required, email to to reserve a place or for further details.
(2 comments) Comments >>
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| Dutch Parliament forces government to withdraw support for software patents directive |
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By brian, Section News
Posted on Mon Jul 5th, 2004 at 17:58:18 GMT |
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[From FFII - July 1st] The Dutch Parliament has directed Minister Brinkhorst and Secretary of State van Gennip (Economic Affairs) to withdraw the Dutch vote in support of the Council of Ministers' text for the Directive on Software Patents. This is the first time in the history of the EU that such a course of action has been undertaken, and represents an incisive criticism of the European Council of Ministers' attempts to introduce broad patentability of software. Full details from FFII.org.
(4 comments) Comments >>
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