NoSoftwarePatents.com Launches Campaign

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [GreenSource] NoSoftwarePatents.com Launches Campaign
   Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:02:21 퍭
   From: "VANDEWALLE Laurence" <[email protected]>
     To: <[email protected]>


http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com

NoSoftwarePatents.com Launches Campaign

Against Software Patents in the EU

1&1, Red Hat and MySQL AB are corporate partners -- Web site
starts in 12 languages -- Campaign warns that software patents 
are used for anti-competitive purposes

Munich, Germany (20 October 2004). A new campaign against
software patents in the EU was launched today in 12 languages at 
www.NoSoftwarePatents.com. The campaign is managed by Florian
Müller of SWM Software-Marketing GmbH, a software  industry
veteran with almost 20 years of expertise, and is supported by
three corporate partners: 1&1, Red Hat, and MySQL AB.  The
campaign manager will discuss the issue of software patents with
politicians and the media.

"Software patents are used for anti-competitive purposes, stifle
innovation, and would cost the entire economy and society
dearly",  Florian Müller said. "On the bottom line, they create
more injustice than justice. There is only a small group of
people in the patent  system who would benefit from them, and
some large American corporations have ulterior motives. The
public interest must prevail  because every European citizen,
every European company and every European government would end up
paying a high price for  such a monumental mistake."

"This is 450 million people against no more than 100,000, but the
100,000 have disproportionate influence. We call on everyone -- 
especially Web site operators -- to support this campaign. We are
now in the decisive stage of the legislative process."

Software is already protected by copyright law. The European
Patent Convention does not allow patents on software, but tens
of  thousands of software patents have been granted in Europe.
The European Union (www.europa.eu.int) is currently in a
legislative process on a software patent directive. In September
of last year, the European  Parliament (www.europarl.eu.int)
proposed a directive that would do away with software patents. In
May of this year, the EU Council  (www.consilium.eu.int)
announced a political agreement on a directive that would
establish a software patent regime similar to that  of the United
States. Under that legislation, the only major difference between
the U.S. and Europe would be how a patent  application is
presented, not what is patentable. The EU Council was widely
expected to formally adopt that legislative proposal  last month
and to refer the matter back to the European Parliament, but the
Council postponed the decision and could still alter  course.
Software patents are on the agenda of the German parliament
("Bundestag") for tomorrow.

Commenting on the campaign's focus on transparency, Müller
continued by saying that "many governments and others spread 
misinformation about software patents and the directive, and our
campaign will relentlessly debunk the untruths". He pointed out 
that reputable organizations such as Deutsche Bank Research
(www.dbresearch.com), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) and
the Kiel Institute for World Economics (www.uni-kiel.de/ifw) have
already warned of the negative implications of software patents
to Europe.

Müller concluded, "Anyone who mistakenly believes that patents
are the same as copyright will see that this campaign is 
supported by successful businesses who protect their software
development investments on the basis of copyright law. I have 
been living off copyright law for almost 20 years myself.
Copyright protects innovators -- software patents are used as
weapons  against innovators."

The campaign Web site will provide content in all official EU
languages. The content is initially available in (alphabetically)
Czech,  Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian,
Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. More
translations are in  progress.

About the Campaign Partners

The views expressed by the campaign are those of the campaign
manager and not necessarily those of the campaign partners.

1&1 (www.1and1.org) is part of the United Internet group
(www.unitedinternet.com), a publicly traded German company that 
projects revenues of EUR 506 million and pre-tax profits above
EUR 80 million this year. United Internet's wholly owned 
subsidiaries 1&1 and Schlund+Partner (www.schlund.de) position
the group as one of Europe's largest Internet presence providers
with over 3 million customers and 4.5  million Internet domains.
The group also operates the GMX (www.gmx.com) E-mail service with
19 million user accounts.

Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT, www.redhat.com) is the world's premier
Linux and open source provider, and the most recognized  Linux
brand in the world. With 27 offices worldwide, the company
expects revenues in its current fiscal year around US$ 200 
million. For the most recent fiscal quarter, Red Hat reported net
income of US$ 11.8 million on revenue of US$ 46.3 million.

MySQL AB (www.mysql.com) of Sweden is Europe's largest open
source software company. The company's flagship product is 
MySQL, the world's most popular open source database, with more
than 5 million active installations. MySQL AB is privately-held, 
with approximately EUR 17 million of venture capital invested in
the company.

About the Campaign and its Campaign Manager

On www.nosoftwarepatents.com, please click on "About the
Campaign" to learn more about the campaign and its campaign 
manager.

Contact Information

Florian Müller

SWM Software-Marketing GmbH

Starnberg, Germany

[email protected]

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