Join Stallman and Software SMEs to refuse sofware patents

Dear members of the PostgreSQL Community,

I registered the congress at the European Parliament (Brussels Thursday 8 May
2003 9:00-12:00 room ASP 1G2) to explain in 2 minutes how PostgreSQL and some
of its offshots (pgAdmin & PhpPgAdmin) can benefit the economy.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact directly Laurence van de
Walle (Lvandewalle(at)europarl(dot)eu(dot)int) and CC me. A registration is needed to
have access to the conference room, get a badge, etc...

Best regards,
Jean-Michel POURE
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Join Stallman and Software SMEs to refuse sofware patents !

On May 8 morning in European Parliament in Brussels, innovative software
companies such as MySQL, Galeco, Ilog, Opera ... will gather with Richard
Stallman and MEPs from the Greens-efa Group to voice their concerns on the
implications of software patents on SMEs.

Software are currently protected by copyright but there is a project for a
European directive to legalize patents on software (com 2002-092). Although
many Members of Parliament are aware that the patent system is not suitable
for sofware, the rapporteur Arlene McCarthy (UK, Labour) is in favour. If
Europe would adopt a system similar to the American system, 30.000 software
patents waiting to be legalized would be inforced. Patents favour huge
companies that can affoard a legal department, therefore harming small and
medium-sized enterprises that create most of the innovation in the IT field.
Patents are expensive, cause a lot of administrative work, are granted slowly
and for a long period, while the life cycle of sofwtare is short ...
Moreover, patents kill the free and open source software. The patent system
does not fit softwares.

We call on software developpers, sofware companies, and all those who support
copyright protection for software to come and address a clear signal to the
European legislative body, shortly before the final vote takes place. After
the conference a joyfull gathering on the theme "Free ideas for a Free World"
with street theater and a buffet lunch is planned in front of the Parliament
Place du Luxembourg.

Registration and programme : Laurence Van de Walle
Lvandewalle(at)europarl(dot)eu(dot)int +32-2-2841695
http://www.greens-efa.org

This is part of a larger event "Software patents from legal worldplay to
economic reality" with B. Kahin at the Dorint Hotel 7 May 14-18:00 organized
by FFII

!!!!!!!THANKS FOR HELPING WIDESPREADING !!!!!!

SOFTWARE PATENTS AND EUROPEAN SME

A conference co-organized by the Greens-efa and the Liberal Groups in European
Parliament

Brussels Thursday 8 May 2003 9:00-12:00 room ASP 1G2



9:00 Welcome address by Dany Cohn-Bendit MEP chair Green-efa and Graham
Watson MEP Chair ELDR

9:15 "The Commission's proposal in a legal perspective" by R. Bakel,
university of Amsterdam, co-author study Juri 107
With the participation of E. Plooij-Van Gorsel (ELDR, rapporteur ITRE) and M.
Rocard (PSE, rapporteur CULT) to be confirmed

9: 45 "Economic consequences of software patents" by Ph. Aigrain, European
Commission

10:00 Panel I : "Innovative SME and Software patents" : Case studies

David Axmark, CEO MySQL (data bases) Sweden
Hakon Wium Lie, CTO Opera (makes sofware for Nokia) Norway
Pierre Haren, CEO Ilog (object-oriented software engineering) France
Wojtek Narczynski CEO Power Media (Custom web software) Poland
Thorsten Lemke, CEO Lemke Software (Graphic Converter) Germany
nn, CEO Symlabs.com (identity manager) Portugal

11:00 Debate with MEPs, SMEs and the public

11:30 Keynote speach : Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project : How
Software Patents Affect Software Development

12:00 Conclusion by Graham Watson MEP and Dany Cohn-Bendit MEP

After the conference a joyfull gathering on the theme "Free ideas for a Free
World" with street theater and a buffet lunch is planned in front of the
Parliament Place du Luxembourg.

On May 7 afternoon a conference "Software patents from legal wording to
economic reality" with B. Kahin and Lawrence Lessig will take place in Hotel
Dorint Bd Charlemagne 11-19 Brussels