From phm@a2e.de  Sun Apr 29 19:39:55 2001
From: phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:39:55 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: [Patents] Re: World Intellectual Property Day is April 26,
 2001
In-Reply-To: <3AEB24C9.366D5EA2@mobach.nl>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0104292021220.7033-100000@mulix.oas.a2e.de>

Fred Mobach wrote:

> Long time ago I saw such childish behavior on the net. Or maybe an
> adolescent who wrote this.

Unfortunately Mr. Smith is not an adolescent but a well-known writer of
pro software patent articles on renowned patent law magazines.

Mr. Smith, I hope to see you putting back his website online without much
delay and declaring in public that you are not in physical danger and that
you are sorry for having acted in a way suitable to create that
impression.

Otherwise I may report the case to a criminal prosecutor.

Libel itself is the first stage in a development toward nasty warfare
which we don't want to see getting started.  I also beg all patent
professionals on this list to take appropriate steps to make it clear
that, no matter how strongly you may support Mr. Smith's opinion on
software patents, you do not approve of his libel tactics or what might
look like such tactics. By making that clear, you can counteract the
necessity of getting criminal authorities involved in a discourse that
should be purely aimed at enhancing mutual understanding.

Thank you

Hartmut Pilch
Federation for a Free Information Infrastructure



