[openstandaarden] [Fwd: Europarl Hearing on Software Patents]

[Onno Timmerman]

En jawel er is een heuse demostratie! Zie mail

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Europarl Hearing on Software Patents
Date: 	17 Apr 2003 21:47:23 -0000
From: 	phm at ffii.org
To: 	onno.timmerman at pandora.be



Dear Eurolinux Petition Supporter,

Thank you for signing our

	Petition for a Software Patent Free Europe
	http://petition.eurolinux.org/

a while ago, and for allowing us to inform you about upcoming actions.[1]

We now need your participation again.

The European Parliament is likely to ratify a Software Patent Directive,
possibly with helpful amendments, in May.  Detailed news are found at

	http://swpat.ffii.org/news/index.en.html

Your participation can have a decisive influence.

Here are a few things to do:

(1) Sign our Amendment Proposals by clicking

	http://petition.ffii.org/eubsa/en
	
    or, if you already have a user ID, by logging in at
    
    	http://petition.ffii.org/
	
    and then navigating through "Signing Appeals".	
	
(2) Now you are logged into a system which makes it easy to
    select and contact Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
  
    Click
	
      ==> My MEPs 
      ==> I would rather select an MEP myself 
      ==> [ selection criteria ] 
      ==> [ 1 MEP ]

(3) Directly phone your MEP, express your concern about the
    "Software Patent Directive Project", find out who in this MEP's
    office is studying the matter, how they think and whom they
    follow, and inform us by leaving a "Confidential Note".
    
    It is very important that MEPs hear *your* voice directly
    and not just the voices of a few "Eurolinux lobbyists".

(4) Write to the person with whom you just phoned.
    Consider backing up your letter by a page on your website.
    Keep it simple, but feel free to ask for our assistance in formulating.
    In any case, send us copies/pointers.

(5) The Green and Liberal Fractions of the European Parliament are calling
    on representatives of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to speak at a
    hearing on May 8th about the Software Patent Directive Project.  There
    will also be a demonstration with theatre and speeches in front of the 
    parliament building.

    Please consider speaking at the hearing, if you can speak for a
    company.  Companies from Eastern Europe (future member countries) are
    also (and even particularly) welcome.
    
    If you are knowledgable about a particular aspect or area within
    software patents, you may want to speak at the scientific conference
    which surrounds the hearing.  For an update on what kind of patents
    are to be legalised in Europe by the proposed directive, you may want
    to browse     
    
    	    http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/txt/ep/
	    http://www.espacenet.com/	    					 

    Information about the event schedule is being published at

	http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/05/
	
    and you can register as a participant through the petition.ffii.org
    web forms.  If you would like to speak at the event, please contact
    me directly.

(6) Donate for our lobbying expenses.  We are spending at least
    30,000 EUR on top of a lot of unpaid voluntary work, and we will not
    be able to pay all our bills unless you come forward with donations.

    The bank account for a donation is 

        Country: DE (Germany)
	Bank Code 70150000
	BIC (bank identifier code): SSKMDEMM
        SWIFT: SSKM DE MM
        Name of Bank: Stadtsparkasse Muenchen
	Bank's Postal Address: DE 80335 Muenchen / Lotstr 1
	Account: 31112097
	IBAN (international bank account number)[2]: DE78701500000031112097
	Account Owner: FFII e.V., 
	Account Owner's Postal Address: DE 80636 Muenchen / Blutenburgstr 17
        Keyword: europarl

    FFII is acknowledged as a public-interest association and we will send
    you a receipt that at least in Germany makes the donation tax-deductible.

It would be great if you could get started with at least one of the
above items right now.

For brevity, we are writing in English only this time, but we will try to
answer your questions or replies in the language of your choice.

Yours sincerely
Mit freundlichen Gruessen
Amicalement
kore, adios, ciao, groeten, na schledanou, saygilar, geia xara ...

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608   
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation	     http://swpat.ffii.org/
140,000 signatures against software patents          http://noepatents.org/

[1] If someone abused your email address or for some other reason you do not
    want to be a signatory of our petition, please say so clearly and we
    will remove your signature. Note that as long as you are a signatory and
    the reasons for this petition continue to exist, you may occasionally
    (not more than 1x/month) receive short mails such as this one, which are
    strictly limited to helping you achieve the aims which you have endorsed.
[2] We are told that, using the IBAN, money can now be transferred between
    european countries for the domestic fee, thanks to a recent EU internal
    market harmonisation directive which can be enforced against banks.