Ciao-
forse lo sapete gią, ma magari potete girare ai colleghi europei il testo che invita alle manifestazioni contro la direttiva sulla brevettabilitą del software in concomitanza con la riunione Ecofin del 17.
Ciao Art
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http://demo.ffii.org/demo0502/
No software patents - No banana union: demonstration in Brussels (Belgium)
Feb 17th
The Demonstration starts at 9:30 at the Council Building (directly at the Metro station "Schuman", Rue de la loi 175), demo stops around 12:00. The event closes with a press conference near the European Parliament.
Schedule
Time Event
09:30 Gathering at Schuman
10:00 Ecofin Council Meeting
11:00 Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament
13:30 Press Conference at Renaissance Hotel
14:30 Open Talk about software patents at "Le Roy d'Espagne" (Grand Place)
Where?
Brussels, before the council (Justus Lipsius building, Rue de la Loi 175), near to Schuman, the railway and subway station (how to get there)
Demonstration path:
Council building > European Commission DG Internal Markt > European Parliament (map)
Who?
If you want (its very useful to have a rough estimation of how many people come - since most of the people don't register here, you can expect up to 10 times more people than the number which will have registered here), you can add your name to the list of participants: Demo050217EnParticipants
Requests
* to the Council: B-Item (= Rediscussion) or at least wait with the approval until the Commission answers the EP request
* to the Commission: please restart the procedure
* to the Parliament: thanks for 1st reading and restart!
The demonstrations go on because the struggle for a free and innovative Europe, without softwarepatents, is everything but done. The European Commission stated only a week before the 17th that it "regrets very much that the software patent will not be on the [Council] agenda".
It is 100% clear that the Council presidency and the Commission will try to continue to push for software patent legalisation. There is only one way to stop them: by increasing the public pressure about this issue. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is demonstrating at the doors of all European decision makers. Waiting for EU democracy just isn't enough, you have to fight for it, day after day.
See you in Brussels and Berlin!
Introduction
At the Moment, the European Union works on a directive which would enforce software and business method patentability in Europe and would even make direct claims on computer programs enforceable.
The text which the Council is trying to adopt has been agreed under high pressure and without proper review and is now opposed by the parliaments of NL, DE and Poland, each of which would alone break the needed majority to adopt it. In the more than 9 months since, a Council diplomat once said: "This is not a banana republic!"
We say: An Union in which the Executives, including the Commissioner which say that this directive is not about patenting software (e.g. Bolkestein: "I literally spent hours and hours trying to clear up one simple misunderstanding: our proposal on the protection of computer implemented inventions is not at all about software."), while on the other hand, even the Commission itself openly admits that it is about patenting software as well: "The Council's approach is much more favourable to software patents and thus broadly in line with the Commission's initial proposal."
But as long as this legislation is handled like this, there is only one conclusion:
"This is a banana republic!"
If you organise a demonstration in another city and want it listed on http://demo.ffii.org/demo0502/, please contact webdemo-help at ffii dot org. Contact your local FFII group or associates from your region if you want to organise a demonstration.
-- www.e-laser.org Laser@inventati.org
