14-15 April 2004 : Brussels is the Hub

[Jama Poulsen <jama@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2004 at 07:30:00AM +0100, Joost van Baal wrote:
> Ik zou er wel eens heen kunnen gaan.  Jij ook?

Ik ga er heen.

Ik heb het officiele FFII persbericht bijgevoegd, voor mensen
die niet de 'news@xxxxxxxx' berichten ontvangen.

mvg,

Jama Poulsen
http://debianlinux.net
http://vemail.org

FFII News -- For Immediate Release -- Please Redistribute
+++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++

Conferences and "Patent Riots" in Brussels 2004-04-14

   The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) calls on
   its 50.000 European supporters and on 300.000 petition signatories,
   including more than 2000 CEOs of European software companies, to take
   to the streets in Brussels on April 14 and in national capitals around
   1st of May, and to temporarily block access to their websites, in
   protest against new moves by the EU Council and Commission to legalise
   patents on computerised calculation rules and business methods, and in
   support of the European Parliament, which voted to clearly exclude
   such items from patentability last september.

   The Brussels demo is accompanied by two days of conferences in the
   European Parliament. The FFII hopes that it will spark off a series of
   similar events in national capitals during the period before the
   elections of the European Parliament from June 10 to June 13.
   Moreover, during this period netizens are called to block access to
   their websites and instead point to protest pages. [31]Similar actions
   in August and September 2003, termed "the 2003 Patent Riots" by US PC
   Magazine commentator John Dvorak[32], had attracted 500 participants from
   all over Europe in Brussels and struck a chord of resonance with
   scientists and software companies. A combination of elaborate
   argumentation with a groundswell of public opinion ultimately
   persuaded a majority of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
   [33]from all political groups to vote for [34]clear limitations on
   patentability.

   However the EU Parliament alone can not pass laws. It needs the
   support of the Commission and the Council of Ministers. In the latter,
   effective power is in the hands of specialised bureaucrats from
   national government who are often affiliated with special interest
   communities. In the case of the software patent directive, the members
   of the Council's "Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents)"
   consists of exactly those patent experts who, in another institutional
   setting, run the European Patent Office. On September 23rd 2003, the
   day before the European Parliament's vote, EU Commissioner [35]Frits
   Bolkestein threatened the Parliament that it would lose its influence
   on European patent legislation if it went against the will of the
   Council. The Council, Bolkestein warned, would simply scrap the
   directive and pursue its own policy outside the EU, in the
   inter-governmental framework of the European Patent Organisation, far
   removed from all parliamentary control.

   After the Parliament defied Bolkestein's threats, Bolkestein's
   directorate soon circulated a [36]secret document among member
   governments in which it discredits the Parliament's vote on the basis
   of formalistic arguments and false assertions. This encouraged the
   national patent experts in the EU Council's "Working Party on
   Intellectual Property (Patents)" to press ahead with a [37]secret
   proposal for unlimited patentability, of which a yet undivulged
   [38]follow-up document was produced on 2004-03-17 (last wednesday). A
   final version could be decided by the ministers (EU Competitivity
   Council) in May and then presented to a new European Parliament for a
   second reading in autumn after the June elections.

   The Council Working Party is careful to conceal which government
   advocated what. Upon inquiry, most governments say that they are being
   pushed toward unlimited patentability by the other governments.

   FFII formulated its concerns in a [39]Call for Action which has
   received support from numerous members of the European Parliament,
   associations, companies and individuals, many of whom are expected to
   voice their concerns at the press conference in Brussels on April
   14th.

   The two-day events overlap with a conference at Berkeley University in
   California, USA, about new reports by the Federal Trade Commission and
   the National Academy of Sciences which point out that software patents
   are stifling innovation and call for patent reform.

Schedule

   The [40]program in Brussels is approximately as follows

Wednesday, 2004-04-14

   10:00-11:00
          Press Conference inside the European Parliament, Room ASP AG2,
          registration at press040414@xxxxxxxx

   11:30-14:00
          Speeches and Performances on Luxemburg Square beside the
          Parliament, Walk to the Council building, Launch of Balloons.

   14:00-18:00
          Conference on Software Patents in EP ASP AG2, registration at
          conf040414@xxxxxxxx

Thursday, 2004-04-15

   09-18:00
          [41]Free Software and Digital Rights conference organised by
          Greens/EFA in EP room ASP AG2

Contacts

   Mail
          media@ffii org

   Phone
          Hartmut Pilch +49-89-18979927 (German/English/French)

          Benjamin Henrion +32-498-292771 (French/English)

          Jonas Maebe +32-485-36-96-45 (Dutch/English/French)

          Dieter Van Uytvanck +32-499-16-70-10 (Dutch/English/French)

   About the FFII
          www.ffii.org

          The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is
          a non-profit association registered in Munich, 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 250
          members, 300 companies and 15,000 supporters have entrusted the
          FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions in the
          area of exclusivity rights (intellectual property) in the field
          of software.

Permanent URL of this Press Release

   http://plone.ffii.org/events/2004/bxl04/pr/

Links

   [42]EU Council criticises lack of democracy in Russian presidential
          elections
          Council members point out that there was no real discussion of
          policy options before the elections and alternative candidates
          had no real chances.

          Strangely enough, however, processes in Russia may seem more
          democratic than in EU, precisely because of the role of the
          Council. The russian parliament still has the power to make
          laws. They don't have a Commission/Council deciding in an
          anonymous backroom procedure to scrap parliamentary votes,
          after stating that only the interests of a claimed "economic
          majority" deserve protection and systematically refusing to
          discuss policy options.

   [43]Demo14and15april AEL working wiki
          This is the working wiki where many volunteers are helping for
          the logistic problems of the event.
     _________________________________________________________________

References

   Visible links

  31. http://swpat.ffii.org/lisri/03/demo0819/index.nl.html#links
  32. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1236389,00.asp
  33. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/plen0309/resu/ana/
  34. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/europarl0309/
  35. http://swpat.ffii.org/players/bolkestein/
  36. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/europarl0309/cec0311/
  37. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/europarl0309/cons0401/
  38. http://plone.ffii.org/events/2004/bxl04/mepltr
  39. http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/europarl0309/demands/
  40. http://plone.ffii.org/events/2004/bxl04/
  41. http://plone.ffii.org/events/2004/bxl04/floss
  42. http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/1?204&OIDN=1507361&-tt=
  43. http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/Demo14and15april