benvingudes les empreses contra les patents de programari
Perdoneu si sóc inutil. Vaig enviar el mmissatge a contactes i llistes en bcc:
i em vaig deixar les llistes que requerien enviar al cc: :(
Hola.
Només us volia pasar una nota de premsa anunciant el llançament d'una
campanya contra les patents de programari a Europa per un grup d'empreses
d'informàtica i serveis. D'empreses i associacions d'empreses contra les
patents de programari ja fa temps que n'hi ha. La novetat és que algunes
s'han posat d'acord per recolzar i finançar una nova acció política en
contra de les patents. Esperem que encara se n'hi afegeixin més.
Això passa un dia abans d'un debat sobre aquest tema al parlament alemany
i un mes abans de la previsible aprovació formal (o no) de l'acord polític
pres pels pèls el maig passat al Consell a favor de les patents de
programari.
En l'interval ha entrat en vigor el tractat de Niça, canviant els pesos
dels estats a favor dels contraris a les patents de programari, i el
parlament europeu ha escollit de ponent per la directiva Michel Rocard,
que és un senyal
que la cambra es vol mantenir ferma en la línia de l'any passat.
Ja no informo tan sovint com voldria, però trobareu noticies més
elaborades o més en cru a
http://kwiki.ffii.org/SwpatcninoEn
Ve't aquí la nova iniciativa http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com , que es
suma a Eurolinux, la FFII, Caliu, CCOO, etc.
NoSoftwarePatents.com Launches Campaign
Against Software Patents in the EU
1&1, Red Hat and MySQL AB are corporate partner - Web site starts in 12
languages - Campaign warns that software patents are used for
anti-competitive purposes
Munich, Germany (20 October 2004). A new campaign against software patents
in the EU was launched today in 12 languages at www.NoSoftwarePatents.com.
The campaign is managed by Florian Müller of SWM Software-Marketing GmbH,
a software industry veteran with almost 20 years of expertise, and is
supported by three corporate partners: 1&1, Red Hat, and MySQL AB. The
campaign manager will discuss the issue of software patents with
politicians and the media.
"Software patents are used for anti-competitive purposes, stifle
innovation, and would cost the entire economy and society dearly", Florian
Müller said. "On the bottom line, they create more injustice than justice.
There is only a small group of people in the patent system who would
benefit from them, and some large American corporations have ulterior
motives. The public interest must prevail because every European citizen,
every European company and every European government would end up paying a
high price for such a monumental mistake."
"This is 450 million people against no more than 100,000, but the 100,000
have disproportionate influence. We call on everyone - especially Web site
operators - to support this campaign. We are now in the decisive stage of
the legislative process."
Software is already protected by copyright law. The European Patent
Convention does not allow patents on software, but tens of thousands of
software patents have been granted in Europe. The European Union
(www.europa.eu.int) is currently in a legislative process on a software
patent directive. In September of last year, the European Parliament
(www.europarl.eu.int) proposed a directive that would do away with
software patents. In May of this year, the EU Council
(www.consilium.eu.int) announced a political agreement on a directive that
would establish a software patent regime similar to that of the United
States. Under that legislation, the only major difference between the U.S.
and Europe would be how a patent application is presented, not what is
patentable. The EU Council was widely expected to formally adopt that
legislative proposal last month and to refer the matter back to the
European Parliament, but the Council postponed the decision and could
still alter course. Software patents are on the agenda of the German
parliament ("Bundestag") for tomorrow.
Commenting on the campaign's focus on transparency, Müller continued by
saying that "many governments and others spread misinformation about
software patents and the directive, and our campaign will relentlessly
debunk the untruths". He pointed out that reputable organizations such as
Deutsche Bank Research (www.dbresearch.com), PriceWaterhouseCoopers
(www.pwc.com) and the Kiel Institute for World Economics
(www.uni-kiel.de/ifw) have already warned of the negative implications of
software patents to Europe.
Müller concluded, "Anyone who mistakenly believes that patents are the
same as copyright will see that this campaign is supported by successful
businesses who protect their software development investments on the basis
of copyright law. I have been living off copyright law for almost 20 years
myself. Copyright protects innovators - software patents are used as
weapons against innovators."
The campaign Web site will provide content in all official EU languages.
The content is initially available in (alphabetically) Czech, Dutch,
English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish,
Portuguese, and Spanish. More translations are in progress.
About the Campaign Partners
The views expressed by the campaign are those of the campaign manager and
not necessarily those of the campaign partners.
1&1 (www.1and1.org) is part of the United Internet group
(www.unitedinternet.com), a publicly traded German company that projects
revenues of EUR 506 million and pre-tax profits above EUR 80 million this
year. United Internet's wholly owned subsidiaries 1&1 and Schlund+Partner
(www.schlund.de) position the group as one of Europe's largest Internet
presence providers with over 3 million customers and 4.5 million Internet
domains. The group also operates the GMX (www.gmx.com) E-mail service with
19 million user accounts.
Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT, www.redhat.com) is the world's premier Linux and
open source provider, and the most recognized Linux brand in the world.
With 27 offices worldwide, the company expects revenues in its current
fiscal year around US$ 200 million. For the most recent fiscal quarter,
Red Hat reported net income of US$ 11.8 million on revenue of US$ 46.3
million.
MySQL AB (www.mysql.com) of Sweden is Europe's largest open source
software company. The company's flagship product is MySQL, the world's
most popular open source database, with more than 5 million active
installations. MySQL AB is privately-held, with approximately EUR 17
million of venture capital invested in the company.
About the Campaign and its Campaign Manager
On www.nosoftwarepatents.com,, please click on "About the Campaign" to
learn more about the campaign and its campaign manager.
Contact Information
Florian Müller
SWM Software-Marketing GmbH
Starnberg, Germany
press@nosoftwarepatents.com
--
- jo també vull una Europa lliure de patents de programari -
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EuropeSwPatentFree - http://EuropeSwPatentFree.hispalinux.es
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http://patents.caliu.info
Xavi Drudis Ferran
xdrudis@tinet.org
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