Re: [Patents] Open Forum Europe got stitched up.

[Hartmut Pilch <phm@a2e.de>]

> It looks as though Open Forum Europe got stitched up.

> > his statement on software patents was written form the point of view of -
> > IF software patents were a done deal (and he was informed that they pretty
> > much were, by the people asking him for a statement) then there should be
> > exclusions for Free Software to safeguard the common interests.

OFE did exactly nothing to promote this view.

Instead they wrote that McCarthy's proposals are great and that it is
enough if CEC (i.e. patent lawyers at DG Internal Market) is provided with
funds to monitor the effects of patents on SMEs after they have happened
(i.e. to write a report which celebrates how certain SMEs were able to
raise funds with patents while others still need to be reeducated).

This is what OFE proposed.  Before getting fooled, please read their

        Joint Industry Statement
        http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/ipat0304/

out loud a few times more.  They are making things worse by lying about
what they did.  They should apologise publicly and do something real to
compensate the damage which they have done.  Anything else makes matters
only worse.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-18979927
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
150,000 votes 2000 firms against software patents    http://noepatents.org/