Fwd: Europarl Hearing on Software Patents

[Gregor Pirnaver]

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Europarl Hearing on Software Patents
Date: sobota 12. aprila 2003 19:06
From: phm at ffii.org
To: gregor.pirnaver at email.si

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 input again.

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

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

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.

Please consider speaking at this hearing, if you can speak
 for a company.  Companies from Eastern Europe (future
 member countries) are also (and even particularly)
 welcome.  Contact us for details.

You may also want to come to the event in Brussels on May
 8th or other events, see

	http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/

Everybody at the European Parliament is speaking about
 small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  Many lobbyists are
 there every day, asking for software patents on behalf of
 SMEs.  But the SMEs themselves are not there.

So if you go the the parliament directly as a person from a
 software company, you are likely to get some attention.

You don't have time?

Then ask yourself: will you have time for dealing with
 patent extortion and monopoly software later on?

If that convinces you, here are a few things to do:

(1) Endorse our Amendment Proposals by clicking

	http://petition.ffii.org/eubsa/en

    or, if you are not new to our system, 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 leave a note in the "My MEP"
 data form.

(4) Write to the person with whom you just phoned.
    Keep it simple, but feel free to ask for our assistance
 in formulating. Also, feel free to use your national
 language. In any case, send us a copy.

(5) Make a donation 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

        Germany
	Bank Code 70150000
	S.W.I.F.T.: SSKM DE MM
	Bank Address: DE 80335 München Lotstr 1
	Name of Bank: Stadtsparkasse München
	Account: 31112097
	Account Owner: FFII e.V.
        Keyword: europarl

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

Yours sincerely
Mit freundlichen Gruessen
Amicalement

--
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, please inform us,
 so that we can remove your signature from the petition.

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Gregor @ Mandrake 9.1 -> KDE 3.1.0 -> Kmail 1.5 -> ;-)