From: petition@eurolinux.org
To: lwn@lwn.net
Subject: EC To Research the Dangers of Software Patents: 
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 20:09:06 +0200 (CEST)


               EC To Research the Dangers of Software Patents
   
        EuroLinux Provides a Public Forum and a Rich Knowledge Base
   
                             EuroLinux Alliance
   
                 http://petition.eurolinux.org/consultation/
   
   For immediate Release
   
   Bruxelles, Copenhagen, London, Madrid, Munich, Paris. October 25rd
   2000. On Thursday 19th October 2000, the European Commission announced
   the opening of an official consultation on the economic and social
   impact of software patents in Europe. In order to help European
   Authorities to conduct an open consultation, the EuroLinux Alliance of
   software publishers and non profit organisations debuts a public forum
   and a rich knowledge base.
   
   The General Directorate for Internal Market has recognised recently
   the potential negative impact of software patents on innovation, their
   danger for small and medium enterprises and the requirement for Europe
   to conduct in-depth researches on the economic impact of software
   patents before changing European Patent Law. Obviously, there is no
   economic consensus in Europe on this matter.
   
   It is also widely admitted that any extension of the patent system to
   software is equivalent to an extension of the patent system to
   intellectual or business methods implemented with software. Patents on
   "internet auctions", "electronic voting", "organising virtual call
   centres", "distributing recipes in supermarkets" or "managing a
   company with a single accounting book" are typical examples of
   software patents legaly granted in the United States. Once software
   patents become legal in Europe, most of these examples will become
   enforceable in Europe too.
   
   Previous European consultations on software patents were mainly
   targeted at patent attorneys and patent offices. Obviously, patent
   attorneys and patent offices expressed a position in favour of
   software patents. This new consultation should now be considered by
   European companies, organisations and citizens as a real opportunity
   to voice their own concerns.
   
   EuroLinux kindly asks European consumers, European IT professionals
   and European companies to urgently send public statements, reports and
   position papers on software patents to [2]consultation@eurolinux.org.
   Emails sent to this address will be automatically published on the
   EuroLinux web site (http://petition.eurolinux.org/consultation) and
   forwarded to the General Directorate for Internal Market at the
   European Commission.
   
   EuroLinux does not recommend sending private emails to the General
   Directorate for Internal Market. Only open and public information
   about the dangers of software patents will be considered seriously.
   The EuroLinux public forum and its rich knowledge base are currently
   the best guarantee for a transparent and democratic debate on software
   patents in Europe.
   
References

   The EuroLinux Public Consultation -
   http://petition.eurolinux.org/consultation

   The EuroLinux Petition for a Software Patent Free Europe -
   http://petition.eurolinux.org

   The EuroLinux File on Software Patents -
   http://petition.eurolinux.org/reference
   
About EuroLinux - www.eurolinux.org

   The EuroLinux Alliance for a Free Information Infrastructure is an
   open coalition of commercial companies and non-profit associations
   united to promote and protect a vigourous European Software Culture
   based on Open Standards, Open Competition, Linux and Open Source
   Software. Companies members or supporters of EuroLinux develop or sell
   software under free, semi-free and non-free licenses for operating
   systems such as Linux, MacOS or Windows.
   
   The EuroLinux Alliance launched on 2000-06-15 an electronic petition
   to protect software innovation in Europe. The EuroLinux petition has
   received so far massive support from more than 50.000 European
   citizens, 2000 corporate managers and 200 companies.
   
   The EuroLinux Alliance has co-organised in 1999, together with the
   French Embassy in Japan, the first Europe-Japan conference on Linux
   and Free Software. The EuroLinux Alliance is at the initiative of the
   www.freepatents.org web site to promote and protect innovation and
   competition in the European IT industry.
   
   Press Contacts
   
   France & Europe: Stéfane Fermigier 
     sf@fermigier.com +33-6 63 04 12 77
   Germany & Europe: Harmut Pilch 
     phm@ffii.org +49-89 127 89 608
   Denmark and Northern Europe: Anne Østergaard 
     aoe@sslug.dk
   Belgium: Nicolas Pettiaux 
     nicolas.pettiaux@linuxbe.org
   
   Permanent URL for this PR:
   
   http://petition.eurolinux.org/pr/pr5.html
   http://petition.eurolinux.org/pr/pr5.pdf
   
Legalese

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