Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:05:41 -0400 From: madodel Subject: [VOICENWS] Net: Open source (OS/2) software under threat again ++ From the VOICE OS/2-eCS News Service http://www.os2voice.org ++ From: Roderick Klein Its simple OS/2 and eComStation have to thank a lot to the open source software community! Open Office 2.0 for OS/2/eComStation is in the pipeline, we have Firefox and Thunderbird. Sane (for scanner usage). Its just a random pick out of the long long list of applications that we use on OS/2 and eComStation that are open source. Almost every OS/2 user is bound to have an open source application running on his system. The company Mensys is convinced that software patents are a direct threat to open source software. So what is all the noise about ? Lobby groups for years have been trying to get software patents legal in the European Union which will allow for patents on software "inventions" with broad claims. With legal broad software patents it will result in even more interest from companies to start putting in many silly broad software patents and this in the end may have developers think twice to contribute to projects we use OS/2 and eComStation and other platforms! An organisation that has been putting a break on software patents is FFII. If you work in the IT sector, please let your voice be heard again! Please sign the petition, especialy if you live in the European Union! The short story, FFII has been the fighting force against software patents in the European Union. Sign this petition and fax it please: http://patinfo.ffii.org/faxcollect.en.html Thanks Roderick Klein The long story PRESS RELEASE -- [ Europe / Economy / ICT] ======================================================================== FFII requests, gets consultation extension from EU Commission ======================================================================== Brussels (4th April 2006) - Following a formal complaint by the FFII to the EU Commission's President Barroso, and meetings between the FFII and the Commission, the Commission has agreed to extend its deadline from 31 March 2006 to 12 April 2006. In a meeting with the Commission on 17th March, the FFII requested an extension. "The original deadline was impossible to meet", said Pieter Hintjens, President of the FFII. "We spoke to many firms that were still preparing their response at the stroke of midnight on 31 March. The Commission has not answered all of our complaints, but this extension is welcome and helpful." The Commission has published the extension on their website, saying that "this deadline determines which replies will be taken into account for the hearing on 13 June 2006." Later replies may still be considered. The FFII and other organisations, including large software producers such as SAP, view the consultation procedure (which covers the Community Patent EU project and the European Patent Litigation Agreement EPO project) as the third attempt to introduce software patents into Europe. Hintjens: "We told the Commission clearly: the Community Patent and EPLA do raise the spectre of software patents, and this must be discussed, not slipped under the table. Furthermore, the EPO is a large part of the problem and we want to see reform of this institution. Software patents introduce dangerous and anti-innovation monopolies, are bad for business, and are demonstrably irrelevant to a sector that has innovated for five decades without them." The FFII is calling on businesses and organisations to endorse its own response to the Commission, which will be handed in the day before the new deadline. Peter Gerwinski of the FFII: "Print out the page, sign it, and fax it back to us. We will collect the signatures into one document that we will hand over personally to the Commission. We previously did something similar for the Call for Action III during the second reading of the software patents directive and it made a great impact." The form to participate in this action is available at http://patinfo.ffii.org/faxcollect.en.html ======================================================================== Background Information ======================================================================== * Participation form http://patinfo.ffii.org/faxcollect.en.html * Commission consultation website (mentions extension) http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/indprop/patent/ consultation_en.htm * FFII consultation websites: * English: http://consultation.ffii.org * French http://consultation.ffii.fr/ * Dutch http://www.ffii.be/gemeenschapsoctrooi * FFII call for participation http://wiki.ffii.org/Compat060322En * Flaws in the consultation procedure http://consultation.ffii.org/Press_Release * Permanent link to this press release http://wiki.ffii.org/Compat060404En ======================================================================== Contact Information ======================================================================== Benjamin Henrion FFII Brussels +32-2-4148403 bhenrionDESPAM at DESPAMffii.org (French/English) ======================================================================== About the FFII -- http://www.ffii.org ======================================================================== About the FFII: the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure is a Munich-based association that fights for competition in the IT sector, based on copyright, open standards, and open markets. The FFII has fought software patents for six years, led by its founder Hartmut Pilch, on the grounds that these create private monopolies that work against innovation. The FFII is funded by donations and membership fees and counts activists and members in over 20 countries. -- Warpstock 2006 - Windsor, Ontario, Canada, October 12-15th, http://www.warpstock.org Warpstock Europe - http://www.warpstock.net [Moderator's note: All posts are sent without guarantee to the accuracy of the content. We try to verify details and URLs but this is an entirely volunteer run list, so 100% fact checking and the quality/useability of products announced here is impossible. If you respond to this post please remove the DESPAM from the poster's email addresses. 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