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Software Patents: NoSoftwarePatents.com Issues Call to Action in Europe

Gauger and Mickos Issue Open Letter
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
March 25, 2005 12:00 AM EST
Reads:
 12,835

In an open letter, the CEO of 1&1 Internet AG Andreas Gauger and the CEO of MySQL Marten Mickos, two sponsors of the NoSoftwarePatents.com attempt to keep American-style software patents out of Europe, have called on the industry, including patent holders, to support the campaign financially.

They expect their opponents, identified as the large American and European firms, to stage "a last-ditch lobbying Blitzkrieg backed by a multimillion-euro budget to impose a US-style software patent regime" on Europe.

They say Brussels was going to turn into "the world capital of lobbyism" for the next few months.

If the European Union adopts software patents, they claim, it could have "global consequences." They describe patent resistance as "the right economic choice," warning that a single patent litigation case could cost a company "more than it takes all of us collectively to win this political battle."

Florian Mueller, who pulled NoSoftwarePatents together, says financial support from the industry would "prove to politicians that there are serious business interests involved. Every single letter is an important contribution, but by far not enough to win when looking at everything that our opponents try in order to have their way."

"If the perception is that 'the economy' stands against 'the community,'" he said, "then we're definitely going to lose. We know that numerous companies share our concerns and some of them are quite sizeable, but we really have to prove that to the European Parliament. Primarily we're now looking for closed source software companies with revenues that are at least in the double-digit million euro or dollar range."

Despite a valiant effort on NoSoftwarePatent's part to stop it, the proposed legislature that the campaign is opposing is headed for a second reading in the European Parliament in April and a vote in early July. It needs a majority to pass, a minimum of 367 votes. If it's amended, as NoSoftwarePatents hopes, it goes back to the EU Council and possibly to a conciliation proceeding, which could lead to a third reading either in the Council or the Parliament.

Published March 25, 2005 – Reads 12,835
Copyright © 2005 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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Most Recent Comments
JustMe 03/28/05 03:27:04 PM EST

Feedback continues to be removed for some reason.

Why offer a feedback option if you're going to remove the feedback?
cat_herder_5263 03/28/05 03:26:36 PM EST

Whats up commented on 25 March 2005: Too bad they took the scans of the court documents from Groklaw and other sites without permission and used them instead of obtaining there own.

I'm not so sure about that. Those of us who follow the zany antics of that wacky Group from Lindon, UT on the Yahoo! message board noticed a GREAT FLURRY OF ACTIVITY on PACER on the Ides of March. Someone got virtually every court document in SCO v IBM on that day.

However, some Bitter Groklaw Exiles and Fawning Groklaw Toadies have accused the SCO Group of downloading SOME documents from Groklaw, to wit, those Frank Sorenson picked up from the court house, scanned and converted to PDF.

However they were obtained, those court documents are in the public domain and noone can exert control over their distribution.

=^^=
2803 03/28/05 12:12:59 PM EST

Probably because our feedback is correct unlike MOG's fiction.

As far as this article goes...she forgot to write that her bosses will be there lobbying for software patents...M$ and SCOXE.
Whats up 03/25/05 09:49:21 PM EST

Why do some of your articles not allow feedback now? Trying to make it look better?

Your Write:

"SCO has finally gone and done something it should have done ages ago so the Groklaw hate-SCO site wouldn't have a monopoly on posting all the legal filings in the SCO cases."

Too bad they took the scans of the court documents from Groklaw and other sites without permission and used them instead of obtaining there own. Now we know for sure that SCO has no respect for IP.
redblack88 03/25/05 10:43:44 AM EST

If MySQL's Marten Mickos says this, that's good enough for me. Support NoSoftwarePatents.com!!