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[Devel] Fwd: Software Patents: Help Us Win in the Europarl!
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Everybody seen this?
One of the sugessted protests is to block websites wednesday (or make the
first page have some info, and a link to the actual page). Thougts on having
the Skolelinux site do that? Anybody opposed?
- ---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: Software Patents: Help Us Win in the Europarl!
Date: 2003-08-21 01:16
From: bxl030827@xxxxxxxx
To: cobaco@xxxxxxxx
**CONFIDENTIAL**
Dear FFII/Eurolinux supporter[1],
The European Parliament is voting on September 1st on a proposal
which, while pretending to aim at restricting patentability, in
reality ensures that algorithms and business methods like Amazon One
Click Shopping indisputably become patentable inventions (and
indisputably pass the bogus requirement of "technical contribution in
the inventive step").
As past experience shows, it is possible for powerful lobbies to push
incredibly bad directives through the European Parliament. But it is
also possible to have them rejected. Everything depends on how well we
use last week of August.
Needed: You in Brussels Next Wednesday August 27th
We need your presence in Brussels on August. We will stage a
performance on Luxemburg Square and a small conference in the
Parliament.
see
Aug 27 Demonstrations against EU Software Patent Plans
http://swpat.ffii.org/news/03/demo0819/index.en.html
We encourage you to participate in this event and to join our lobby
team in the parliament before and after that date. You could also
contribute by arranging a meeting between your MEP and our team.
Beds will be available for free for those who particpate.
Needed: Your Website Blocked Next Wednesday August 27th
If the JURI proposal passes, important websites will be forced off the
Net in the near future. It would seem preferable to take them off the
Net now, as a demonstration, for a few days. Or, in a more gentle
manner, to hide the content behind a "Page Closed" screen of the
following kind:
see
Online Demonstration Against Software Patents
http://swpat.ffii.org/group/demo/index.en.html
The www.ffii.org title page is already hidden in this way and will
continue to stay hidden until after the vote.
You might consider hiding some or all pages at least on August 27th
and persuading your friends, especially those who administer
much-visited software download pages, to do likewise.
Needed: 8,000 eur for demo and lobbying expenses
In June and July, we have subsidised the work of a handful of
activists who spread the word within the European Parliament. We will
do more of this again starting on August 25th. For each activist we
pay the trip, a bed and breakfast plus around 50 eur per day.
In order to reach out to all 626 MEPs during the last week of August,
we need 10 knowledgable people from different nationalities to spend
that week in Brussels.
You can support the work of our lobbyists by calling your MEPs on your
own. We have arranged a series of helpdesks at
europarl@xxxxxxxx
europarl-uk@xxxxxxxx
europarl-de@xxxxxxxx
europarl-fr@xxxxxxxx
europarl-es@xxxxxxxx
europarl-pt@xxxxxxxx
europarl-it@xxxxxxxx
europarl-gr@xxxxxxxx
europarl-dk@xxxxxxxx
europarl-se@xxxxxxxx
europarl-fi@xxxxxxxx
europarl-ie@xxxxxxxx
where you can receive hints as to whom to talk to and what to say.
These again need to be staffed and paid.
The result of our concerted effort should be that fewer of McCarthy's
amendments and more of "ours" achieve a majority. This would, at the
very least, send the draft report back to the JURI committee and open
another round of negotiations there.
If you want to donate for this project, please use the keyword
europarl. If you want to restrict the use of the donation to a
particular country, specify europarl-uk or analogous.
Needed: 3,000 eur for lobbying the media
Arlene McCarthy and friends are concentrating great efforts on
spreading misinformation in the press. Influential journalists have
helped, sometimes against their better knowledge, to create the
impression that McCarthy is trying to restrict patentability. See the
documentation at
JURI votes for Fake Limits on Patentability
http://swpat.ffii.org/news/03/juri0617/index.en.html
We have however also actively contacted media and produced a series of
press releases. It is largely due to this activity that a majority of
media, including some mainstream media such as Der Spiegel, Le Monde,
Libération, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung and others treated
McCarthy's proposal as what it is: an attempt to introduce US-style
unlimited patentability in Europe. Much of this happened because we
actively established contacts with the potentially interested
journalists and gained their confidence as a reliable source of
information.
We have however not yet succeded in finding our way into many radio
and television programs. This again could be changed with a concerted
and paid effort.
As with the Europarl work, the key helpers should not only directly
contact media themselves but also provide coaching for volunteers who
want to help. Again we are providing a series of helpdesk addresses
media@xxxxxxxx
media-uk@xxxxxxxx
media-de@xxxxxxxx
media-fr@xxxxxxxx
media-es@xxxxxxxx
media-pt@xxxxxxxx
media-it@xxxxxxxx
media-gr@xxxxxxxx
media-dk@xxxxxxxx
media-se@xxxxxxxx
media-fi@xxxxxxxx
media-ie@xxxxxxxx
for this and to set people free to concentrate on this work.
Please consider either operating such a helpdesk or donating for it or
volunteering to support the work by taking on some media yourself.
The keyword for donations in this area is, as you might expect: media,
media-fr, media-nl, etc.
Needed: Advertisement in European Voice et al
Some MEPs have advised us to insert an advertisement into a newspaper
which is read by MEPs, such as European Voice, in the week before the
vote. This would cost around 10000 eur. It seems to have been
effective in the past.
This however seems a little too big at the moment. Only when the other
items have been financed will we plan actions at this level.
How to donate
The bank account for a donation is
IBAN[2]: DE78701500000031112097
Account Owner: FFII e.V.
Keyword: europarl
Alternatively you can donate via paypal.com to paypal at ffii org.
FFII is acknowledged as a public-interest association and we can send
you a receipt that at least in Germany makes the donation
tax-deductible. We receipts for all donations of 50 eur or more every
3 months.
More detailed information on how to help is being maintained at
http://www.eurolinux.org/
Needed: Your response NOW
Please tick:
[ ] I will be at the demo on Aug 27th 12.00
[ ] I would like to contribute to preparing the demo of Aug 27th 12.00
[ ] I will be at the conference in the EP on Aug 27th 14.00
[ ] I would like to speak at the conference in the EP on Aug 27th 14.00
[ ] I want to participate in the lobbying team for at least 1/2 day
[ ] I want to participate in the lobbying team for at least 1 day
[ ] I want to participate in the lobbying team for at least 2 days
[ ] I need a place to sleep in BXL on Aug 26-27
[ ] I need a place to sleep in BXL on Aug 25-26
[ ] I need a place to sleep in BXL on Aug 27-28
[ ] I will contact MEP(s) and arrange for a meeting with the lobby team
[ ] I have followed or will follow the links listed at
http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/08/index.en.html and
made/make myself familiar with the various proposals which are under
discussion in the European Parliament.
[ ] I will participate in the online demo.
[ ] I will help bring the software patent issue into the media.
[ ] I will make a donation.
[ ] I represent
[ ] myself only
[ ] company xxxxxxx.com
[ ] organisation xxxxxxx.org
Thank you very much for your support!
_________________________________________________________________
Notes
[1] You have registered via
http://petition.ffii.org/
http://aktiv.ffii.org/
as a supporter of FFII/Eurolinux and thereby consented to receiving
occasional mails, whose scope is strictly limited to enabling you to
help support the cause. If you disagree, you can downgrade your status
from "supporter" to "user of the ffii information offers" or lower via
the menu at the above URL, and you will no longer receive our mails.
[2] Using the IBAN, money can now be transferred between european
countries for the domestic fee, thanks to a recent EU directive
which citizens can enforce against banks.
- --
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance tel. +49-89-18979927
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation http://swpat.ffii.org/
160,000 votes 2000 firms against software patents http://noepatents.org/
- -------------------------------------------------------
- --
Cheers, cobaco
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