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From: "Florian Mueller" <florian.mueller@tenanet.com>
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Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:52:47 +0000
Subject: Declined EV50 Campaigner of the Year award
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Dear Subscribers to the Patents-at-AFUL Mailing List,

On Tuesday evening (29 November 2005), the EU-focused newspaper European Vo=
ice (www.european-voice.com) presented the "EV50 Europeans of the Year" awa=
rds in Brussels.

The EV50 awards (www.ev50.com) comprise nine category awards and the grand =
prize for the overall "European of the Year". A jury selected 50 nominees. =
After the announcement of the nominees on 22 September, the worldwide publi=
c was asked to submit votes in an Internet poll until 11 November. Addition=
ally, the European Voice published a paper ballot for those of its readers =
who preferred to submit their votes non-electronically.

I was proclaimed as the winner of the "EU Campaigner of the Year" category =
award for my work on the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign. In that category, =
I was competing with five other nominees, including U2 frontman Bono and an=
other rock star, Bob Geldof. The rules were such that the overall winner co=
uld not simultaneously win the category. Initially, I accepted the category=
 award, not enthusiastically but because I did not want to cause any impres=
sion of an emotional overreaction by immediately declining it. I awaited th=
e presentation of the remaining awards. After the overall "European of the =
Year" award had been given to Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Lu=
xembourg, the organizers wanted to take a picture of all ten winners with t=
heir trophies. Before the photograph, I gave the award trophy back to Mr. D=
ennis Landsbert-Noon, the publisher of the European Voice, and left.

I told Mr. Landsbert-Noon that I had, after serious consideration, "decided=
 not to accept the award", and that I will issue further statements after o=
btaining legal advice.

Obviously it was a difficult decision to decline a category award that has =
been won by famous people, most notably the late Pope John Paul II in the y=
ear 2002. I was fully aware of the fact that this action would potentially =
affect decisions by other award juries in the future as well as my relation=
ship with the organizers and sponsors of the EV50.

My greatest concern was that by declining the EU Campaigner of the Year awa=
rd, I would disappoint the many who have voted for me and those who have su=
pported our tremendously impactful Internet campaign for votes.

However, it was in my opinion the only appropriate action, and I will soon =
explain the reasons to do so. In the meantime, please understand that I wil=
l not be able to answer further questions on this subject.

I also have an anecdote to tell that many will find amusing. Mr. Michel Roc=
ard, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former prime minister of=
 France, received the "MEP of the Year" award for his work on the software =
patent directive. In his acceptance speech, he mentioned Microsoft's sponso=
rship of the EV50 awards several times. While Microsoft supported the propo=
sed directive, Mr. Rocard wanted to very clearly exclude software from the =
scope of patentability. Mr. Rocard had a special message for Microsoft and =
EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy: "You will discover that we were right."

Mr. Rocard could additionally have mentioned that Burson-Marsteller, a PR a=
nd lobbying firm with offices in many cities including Brussels, counts Mic=
rosoft (as well as other corporations with a similar position on software p=
atents) among its clients. Burson-Marsteller was involved in the organizati=
on of the EV50.

Note that the 50 nominees were chosen by an independent jury, which through=
 its choices demonstrated its independence.

For general information on the EV50, journalists are asked to contact the o=
rganizers. A number of presidents, prime ministers, parliamentarians and EU=
 commissioners were personally present at the EV50 dinner.

Best regards,

Florian Mueller








