FFII takes over NoSoftwarePatents.com

http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=488

EU SOFTWARE PATENT CRITICS UNITED:
NOSOFTWAREPATENTS.COM WILL
BECOME AN FFII PLATFORM

Munich (30 March 2005).  In advance of the European Parliament's second
reading on a software patent directive, the resistance movement against
software patents in the EU regroups.  Today it was announced that the FFII
(Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure), the leading organization
that opposes software patents in Europe, will take over the
NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign.

Through content in 17 languages, NoSoftwarePatents.com addresses a
pan-European audience and delivers easy-to-understand information on the
controversial topic.   The campaign was brought to life last year by
software industry veteran Florian Mueller with the help of three sponsors --
1&1 (a German company that is the world's largest Web host), Red Hat, and
MySQL AB.  NoSoftwarePatents.com quickly became known for not mincing words
in its criticism of companies and organizations that lobby for software
patents.

"NoSoftwarePatents.com is by far the best introductory Web site on the
subject of computing idea monopolies to date", said Hartmut Pilch, president
of the FFII. "Florian Mueller has contributed an important missing link
between various communities. Together with 1&1, Red Hat and MySQL, our media
team will now leverage the NoSoftwarePatents.com platform to further boost
the morale of the large majority of companies and individuals whose freedom
and productivity is currently under threat."

The NoSoftwarePatents sponsors approved the transfer of the
NoSoftwarePatents.com site to the FFII, and will work with the FFII in a
similar way as they previously did with NoSoftwarePatents.com while it was
an independent campaign. "MySQL AB believes in copyright law as the proper
mechanism for protecting the rights of software authors, and we consider
software patents harmful to the industry at large", said Marten Mickos, CEO
of Swedish database company MySQL AB. "Together with 1&1 and Red Hat, we
funded the creation of the NoSoftwarePatents.com platform, and prior to that
we had already been supporting Florian's political work for several months.
NoSoftwarePatents.com has had an enormous impact, and we are excited to be
working closely with the FFII."

Florian Mueller, the founder of NoSoftwarePatents.com, believes that the
take-over of NoSoftwarePatents.com "will further cement the FFII's
leadership role".  He pointed out that his biography on the campaign site
had been stating all along that he "temporarily interrupted his own software
development project" in order to campaign against software patents.
According to Mr. Mueller, the time had come for him "after a fantastic year
in politics" to resume his own project (a computer game), but he said he
will still be involved in the fight against software patents from time to
time.

Current Status of the EU Software Patent Directive

On 7 March, the EU Council, commonly referred to as the "Council of
Ministers" because it is comprised of ministers from the member countries of
the union, adopted its "common position" on software patents.  The decision
was taken against strong resistance by various national parliaments and
despite a request by the European Parliament to restart the entire process
on the controversial directive.  A long list of countries, among them six
that had originally supported the proposal, added unilateral declarations by
which they basically distanced themselves from the decision and suggested
substantial amendments in the further process.

The Council's proposal is now on its way to the European Parliament, which
is widely expected to begin a second reading in mid April and to vote on
possible amendments, or rejection, in early July.  In order to take any such
decision, the EP now needs a majority of its component members, which
represents a minimum number of 367 votes irrespective of absences and
abstentions.  If the EP amends the proposal, then it goes back to the EU
Council and then on to a possible conciliation proceeding, which in turn
might be followed by parallel third readings in both institutions.

About the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure,
www.ffii.org)

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.  The 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.

About the NoSoftwarePatents.com Campaign

The NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign was launched on October 20th and is
supported by three IT companies (1&1, Red Hat, and MySQL AB).  The views
expressed by the campaign are those of the campaign manager and not
necessarily those of the aforementioned companies.

Through Web content in 17 languages, the campaign addresses a pan-European
audience.  More information on the campaign is available on its Website.

Contact Information

For further information concerning this announcement or the
NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, please contact:

Hartmut Pilch
President, FFII
telephone +49 (89) 18979927
[email protected]

Florian Mueller
Campaign Manager, NoSoftwarePatents.com
telephone +49 (8151) 651850
[email protected]