EU Software Patent Decisions, Demonstration and Press Conference Today

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

PRESS RELEASE FFII -- [ Europe / economy / ICT ]

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EU Software Patent Decisions, Demonstration and Press Conference Today
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Brussels, 17th February. -- Today, important decisions on the software
patent directive are taking place in Brussels.  The European
Parliament's Conference of Presidents will decide whether the
procedure will be restarted.  From all over Europe, software
developers and company representatives will join forces today to
demonstrate against software patents and against the undemocratic
manoevering of the Commission and Council.  This will be followed by a
Press Conference.

The demonstrators will hand over a package of bananas and a letter to
the Commission and to the Council, one for each.  The letters can be
found at

        http://wiki.ffii.org/LtrFfiiCec050217En
        http://wiki.ffii.org/LtrFfiiCons050217En

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Difficult Restart Decision in the European Parliament
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At 11.00 the European Parliament's Conference of Presidents will deal
with the motion of the Legal Affairs Committee and ask the European
Commission for a renewed referral of the directive to the Parliament.
It is not certain that the Conference of Presidents will follow the
vote of the Legal Affairs Committee
(http://wiki.ffii.org/Restart050202En).  Certain forces within the
Parliament are trying to interpret the rules in a way that reduces the
rights of the Parliament and its members as far as possible.  The
Tabling Office did not want the Conference of Presidents to even
discuss the JURI motion.  That they are discussing it nonetheless is
due to an initiative of the Green Group.

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Press Conference with Buzek, Liepitz, Gerkens et al
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After the meeting of the Conference of Presidents, there will be Press
Conference in Hotel Renaissance, Rue de Parnasse 19, Brussels (near
the EU parliament).  For journalists, a lunch is planned at this
location, around 12:30.  The press conference will begin at 13:30.
Among the guests are MEP Jerzy Buzek (prime minister of Poland
1997-2001 and leading initiator of the restart motion), French Green
MEP Alain Liepitz and Arda Gerkens, the originator of the recent
motion in the Dutch Parliament.

Members of the Commission, Council and Parliament as well as journalists
are cordially invited to the conference.

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Decision in the German Parliament
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In the evening, there will be a discussion in the German Federal Parliament
(Bundestag) about software patents.  The Bundestag is expected to adopt
a cross-partisan motion which criticises the Council's approach and backs
the position of the European Parliament.  FFII has published a letter
to members of the Parlimanent that asks for further followup action

        http://wiki.ffii.org/LtrFfiiMdb0502De

to ensure that this motion has an effect.

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Extra Information
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* Permanent URL of This Press Release 
  http://wiki.ffii.org/Demo050217En

* Website about FFII demonstrations
  http://demo.ffii.org/         ;

* Photos from this Demo
  http://www.dhcp42.de/bxl0502/

* Thank Poland Ceremony yesterday in the Polish Parliament 
  http://wiki.ffii.org/Sejm050216En

* CCIA: EU Patent Proposal Comes at a Cost of Innovation and Competition 
  
http://ccianet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=584&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
  Industry group supported by large software companies warns against
  software patents, backs Parliament's position and restart initiative.

* Microsoft: Give us Software Patents or we Move Jobs Out of Denmark
  http://wiki.ffii.org/Navision050215En

* Dutch Parliament adopts motion to block software patents A-item 
  http://wiki.ffii.org/NlVot050210En
  (contains references to today's press conference guest Arda Gerkens 

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Contact
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Hartmut Pilch, phm@ffii.org, +49-89-18979927 (German/English/French)

Jonas Maebe, jmaebe@ffii.org, +32-485-36-96-45 (Dutch/English)

Benjamin Henrion, bhenrion@ffii.org, +32-498-292771 (French/English)

Dieter Van Uytvanck, dietvu@ffii org, +32-499-16-70-10 or
+31-6-275-879-10 (Dutch/English)

Erik Josefsson, erjos@ffii.org, +46-707-696567 or +32-485-83-21-26
(Swedish/English)

Roman Muñoz, tatel@infonegocio.com +34-943341472 (Spanish)

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About the FFII -- http://www.ffii.org
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The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a
non-profit association registered in several European countries, which
is dedicated to the spread of data processing literacy. FFII supports
the development of public information goods based on copyright, free
competition, open standards. More than 500 members, 1,200 companies
and 75,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in
public policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual
property) in data processing.