"The "Free Software Alliance" (FSA) is an imaginary organisation, created by Arlene McCarthy (MEP, UK Labour) in August 2003 for the purpose of press briefings. The FSA is a mirror of the BSA: it fights aggressively and intrusively for the right of its members to free-ride on other people's intellectual property. The FSA supports a caricature of the positions of the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) and the Eurolinux Alliance. Unlike FFII, Eurolinux and BSA, the FSA consists only of computer rights campaigners, and enjoys no support among commercial software producers."
Time is running out. We will not stop this directive but we can support important amendments filed by some MEPs in order to get a sufficient directive.
Adresses of EU - representatives
http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/owa/p_meps2.rep ar tition?ipid=0&ilg=EN&iorig=home&imsg=
personal > telephone call > Fax > letter > email
The directive is called COM(02)92, it will be voted on Wednesday.
Info about Amendments (please directly refer to these, no general texts, the first link is a must read):
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swpat0202/pl en 0309/index.en.html http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/ eubsa-swpat0202/plen 0309/kond/index.en.html
It is especially useful to support Mrs. Kauppi against patent radical Wurmling in the conservative group
Technical contribution (what is really meant, we want a definition in the directive based on the "natural forces" theory): http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swpa t0202/tech/index.en.html
Program claims (dangerous for web site owners): http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swpa t0202/prog/index.en.html
Interoperability (support ITRE against Juri proposal) http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swp at0202/itop/index.en.html
Don't write to Green party members or EFA as they are convinced yet, focus on Liberals, Conservative(Finnish MEP Kauppi has made good amendments)
and Social democrats
One of the funniest arguments was Wurmling's text who stated that Eolas vs. Microsoft showed best practise for SME. Incompetence and lies rule within the EU parliament. We shall not let patent lawyer interest groups win this battle.
Currently the US government, represented by its patent office, is still
bullying other countries wherever it can, be it bilateral or multilateral
negotiations, asking them to adopt the US rules of patentability of
abstract ideas dressed up in the terminology of the universal computer.
At the recent OECD conference, the US government's representative said
that such conferences are useless and the debates of the economists
harmful, because the patent system as is is "basically good" and the US
will not permit any policy except one that "extends and strengthens" this
system. The same representatives have also been doing their best to kill
discussions on proper limits of "IP" at WIPO and other UN organisations.
Not only the US became mad.
In would also like to remind you of the EU IPR enforcement directive that will be discussed as early as sept 11 in the europarl JURI committee.
"If this proposal becomes a reality, major companies from abroad can use 'intellectual property' regulations to gain control over the lives of ordinary European citizens and threaten digital freedoms", said Andy Muller-Maguhn.
--- :-) Please also look at the evidence of anti-conspiracy conspiracy theory:
discussion: sept 11 (WTC 2001)
issued by EUC at January 30 2003(Hitler's takeover of power 1933)
In the US it was never iopenly discussed in parliament, it was done within the not democratic controlled US patent system.
AEL has collected even more useful material http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/FightingSWP atents and there is a nice Letter of Tord Jansson
We have so many statements, and arguments. The EU conducted so many studies...
It is not a lack of intellect or arguments but a lack of power.
http://www.bustpatents.org
The movement for world-wide software patents is coming to a new high we are now 10 days ahead of the time when the european parliament is about to follow the US into patentability of software, business methods and it's not even clear to them because the words used have been very much stretched into endless terms of patentability(e.g. "technical")
If the EU adopts software patents, they will become global enforceable. That's when the real problem will begin.
Please help us to spread the word to attract people to a street performance on August 27th in Brussels(Old Europe). We also hope that webmasters against software patents can replace their/index.html for a protest page alarming even more people.
What if your child asks you one day: Where have you been when they introduced software patents?
Technical contribution is not defined.
This is a trap. Law does not always mean what it says.
Se for instance:
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swpat0202/tech/index.en.html
More on McCarthy:
http://swpat.ffii.org/akteure/amccarthy/index.en.h tml
FAX Is more appropiate.
Document what you did in the community tool
http://aktiv.ffii.org
Dont' spam.
Be polite.
Ask for amendments to McCarthys proposal. So read the texts on swpat.ffii.org first.
Demand a definition of technical in the directive.
Tell them you don't want Amazon vs. Barnes and Noble in the EU. Or MS vs. Eolas (500 mio $) or other patent privateers.
Tell them what the W3C says.
/*SCO has declared war on the foundations of the open source community and we should be responding appropriately.*/
SCO's behaviour is against common business rules, in some states illegal (Germany: anti-competetive behaviour). We shall exhaust all possibilities of legal action against SCO.
Eu-Parlamentarians Search engine. /*I am not sure but if the EU starts to accept software patents will the US patents be enforceable through WIPO or similar. If so then the EU will already be at a loss as all the US patents will come into force and by typing this I am probably breaking a few of them:)*/
This will be the next step. See FFII swpat AG for comprehensive details or join a Mailinglist patents@Aful.org or bxl@ffii.org
Indeed, for those of you who were here this morning and listened to the people in the software industry talk about how threatening this is to their businesses, as I see it, patents today are often entrenching the established at the expense of allowing the newcomer to come in. I question today whether a Steve Jobs could start an Apple or a Bill Gates could start a Microsoft in view of the web and thicket of patents that is out there.
Joshua Kaplan, Intouch
Oracle Corporation opposes the patentability of software. The Company believes that existing copyright law and available trade secret protections, as opposed to patent law, are better suited to protecting computer software developments.
Oracle 1994
The mind has always been sacrosanct. The claim that intellectual processes and logical procedures (that do not primarily manipulate devices) can be possessed and monopolized extends greed and avarice much too far. Algorithmic intellectual processes must remain unpatentable -- even when represented by binary coding in a computer; even when executed by the successor to the calculator.[..]The company for which I am speaking, Autodesk, holds some number of software patents and has applied for others -- which, of course, remain secret under current U.S. law. However, all are defensive -- an infuriating waste of our technical talent and financial resources, made necessary only by the lawyer's invention of software patents. Autodesk has faced at least 17 baseless patent claims made against it and has spent over a million dollars defending itself, with millions more certain to pour down the bottomless patent pit unless we halt this debacle. Fortunately -- unlike smaller software producers -- we have the financial and technical resources to rebuff such claims.
Jim Warren (Autodesk) 1994
The time and money we spend on patent filings, prosecution, and maintenance, litigation and licensing could be better spent on product development and research leading to more innovation. But we are filing hundreds of patents each year for reasons unrelated to promoting or protecting innovation.
Robert Barr (CISCO) 2002
Please help the Europeans to avoid Arlene McCarthys patent directive legislation. You shall sign the Eurolinux-Petition http://noepatents.org and support FFII http://swpat.ffii.org or other groups http://softwarepatents.co.uk
Talk to your EU representatives and tell them what you think about software patents, what they mean for your business. Stop the sausage machine as MEP Rothley (pro-swPat] denounced parliament legislation.
More information about swpat-legislation in the EU.
Bruce, what can we do in order to improve lobbying. what do you intend to do in Europe (software patent directive), will you support the work of FFII and all the other groups?
IP comprises many conflicting areas of law, and it is no judicial term. In Germany the proper word is "Immaterialgüterrecht" immaterial good rights.
Well, software patents are bad for businesses.
Take a look at this Halloween-document of Ms Germany:
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/MS%20Germany
And additional information about MS
http://swpat.ffii.org/players/microsoft/index.en.h tml
Re:To bad Evolution probably wont support it
on
Kroupware Komplete
·
· Score: 1
in Europe redHat and gnome are weaker than KDE. Everybody uses KDE... Evolution was the more advanced application, now it looses ground and many other projects get mature.
This is crap. Hope the SCO employees feel ashamed for their company. IP law in the hand of failed companies is dangerous. But the lack of proper legislation in the US against anti-competitive behaiviour is even more dangerous.
Do they also sell a license to kill SCO.
If SCO was concerned about their IP they wouldn't start as dirty media campaign.
SCO House construction: I own your house because a worker of yours used one of my brick stoness.-)
/*Estonia is a country where hot, running water was a luxury a decade ago.*/:-) haha. The soviet union was not the third world.
Estonia is a nice country. However I prefer Western Europe.
Estonia is very small, so Estonia=its Capital.
I lived in ghana. An internet connection lasts 45 minutes. They even don't have constant power supply.
ghana will face a business boom as soon as mayor problems are resolved. However, don't believe in the word "digital divide", IT removes divide.
Wealth distribution is very unequal in ghana, nobody cares, because they avoid social clashes.
work hierarchy is based of age, you don't critizise someone who is older than you.
ghanians avoid conflict. That results to peacefulness and poor service quality.
the most rude thing someone says who originates from Ghana: Oh, you really disappointed me.
Ghanians are not able to manage a business.
Stupid us-style christ fundamentalism is on the rise.
Press, meida is horrible. Government even more. Everybody likes titels and politicians like to talk as much as possible. A parliament's member moves from one western organisation to another. Today Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, tomorrow Alliance Francaise. And after that time they are on a trip to the US Congress. Politicians in ghana: a waste of democracy. They talk, they don't work.
however I like the film industry of ghana and nigeria. And especially the people.
European Parliament Rejects Attempt to Rush Vote on Software Patent
Brussels 20030626
For immediate Release
The European Parliament has postponed the vote on the software patent
directive back to the original date of 1st of September, thereby
rejecting initially successful efforts of its rapporteur Arlene
McCarthy (UK Labour MEP of Manchester who acted as a rapporteur for
the directive in the parliament) and her supporters to rush to vote on
June 30th, a mere twelve days after publication of the highly
controversial report and tend days after the unexpected change of
schedule.
Background
Members of Parliament from all parties had complained that it was
impossible to react adequately within a timeframe of 10 days.
Until Wednesday, leaders of the two largest blocks, the socialists
(PSE) and conservatives (PPE), seemed determined to follow the
recommentations of their "patent experts" and go ahead with the vote
quickly. They explained that there was no reason to wait, because all
possible amendment proposals had already been submitted to the
committees and translated to all languages, and there was no need for
new amendments. This view however became increasingly difficult to
uphold, as more and more MEPs in all parties became aware of the
schedule change and pointed out that they wanted to prepare new
amendments. Within the socialist group, a large opposition group,
possibly the majority, gathered around Michel Rocard (FR), Luis
Berenguer (ES), Evelyn Gebhardt (DE), Olga Zrihen (BE) and other MEPs
who had played a prominent role in resisting software patentability.
On Wednesday the climate change became apparent. More and more MEPs
rumored that the schedule would not be upheld. Even (11)Arlene
McCarthy was quoted as saying that it might be too tight. A spokesman
from the (12)General Directorate for the Internal Market of the
European Commission, which has been pushing for the directive together
with Arlene McCarthy and other allies in the Parliaments Commitee for
Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI), meanwhile told
journalists: "Arlene McCarthy has tried hard to have the vote
conducted on June 30th, but as things now stand, this looks rather
unlikely."
On Thursday morning, at the meeting of the secretary generals, the
representatives of all political groups voted for postponment. Their
vote was confirmed by the conference of presidents (i.e. head of
transnational party groups) during their session at 3 p.m. At 8 p.m.
the decision was made public on the Parliament's (13)schedule webpage.
Many software professionals have been contacting their MEPs in recent
days. A letter by (14)Tim Jackson, operations manager for Internet
Assist Ltd in Chelmsford, UK, reflects the mood :
Almost all involved in software in Europe, bar a select few large
corporations, and law firms who make money from litigation and
legal complexities, are opposed to software patenting. There is a
huge groundswell of opinion amongst the real software engineers
(who understand the complex process and history of software
development) which favours strong and unambiguous prohibition of
patents on software. Copyright is the right tool to protect
software, not patents. By using grossly misleading and emotive
language such as "giving software innovators the protection they
deserve" the proponents are trying to give the appearance that
software developers and businesses are crying out for "protection"
by patents, when quite the opposite is true - we (and society at
large) actually want and need protection from software patents!
(...) If any of you intend to vote in favour of the proposed
Directive, may I ask you to be so kind as to explain to myself your
reasons for concluding that this is in the interests of Europe? The
eyes of many IT-literate constituents are on you, and you will
undoubtedly permanently lose many of our votes (certainly including
mine) should you choose to support this assault on our livelihoods
and interests.
This groundswell of public sentiment, together with a concerted
lobbying effort by a group of 2000 software companies
Slashdot Mirror
Britian not in the EU: Madame Arlene McCarthy and the radical Uk patent movement would be left off the fences.
In Vienna 400 demonstrated.
Similar events will be organized across Europe, in Madrid, Poland, Duesseldorf, Berlin, Paris, ...
Sept 23 there will be a demonstration in Strassbourg. And another Online demo will be started.
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/InfoStands
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/OnlineDemo
"The "Free Software Alliance" (FSA) is an imaginary organisation, created by Arlene McCarthy (MEP, UK Labour) in August 2003 for the purpose of press briefings. The FSA is a mirror of the BSA: it fights aggressively and intrusively for the right of its members to free-ride on other people's intellectual property. The FSA supports a caricature of the positions of the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) and the Eurolinux Alliance. Unlike FFII, Eurolinux and BSA, the FSA consists only of computer rights campaigners, and enjoys no support among commercial software producers."
http://swpat.ffii.org/players/fsa/
Time is running out. We will not stop this directive but we can support important amendments filed by some MEPs in order to get a sufficient directive.
p ar tition?ipid=0&ilg=EN&iorig=home&imsg=
l en 0309/index.en.html/ eubsa-swpat0202/plen 0309/kond/index.en.html
a t0202/tech /index.en.html
a t0202/prog /index.en.html
p at0202/itop /index.en.html
Adresses of EU - representatives
http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/owa/p_meps2.re
personal > telephone call > Fax > letter > email
The directive is called COM(02)92, it will be voted on Wednesday.
Info about Amendments (please directly refer to these, no general texts, the first link is a must read):
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swpat0202/p
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere
It is especially useful to support Mrs. Kauppi against patent radical Wurmling in the conservative group
http://swpat.ffii.org/#wuermeling-pr030919
Background
General:
http://swpat.ffii.org/analyse/index.de.html
Technical contribution (what is really meant, we want a definition in the directive based on the "natural forces" theory):
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swp
Program claims (dangerous for web site owners):
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swp
Interoperability (support ITRE against Juri proposal)
http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-sw
Don't write to Green party members or EFA as they are convinced yet, focus on Liberals, Conservative(Finnish MEP Kauppi has made good amendments)
and Social democrats
One of the funniest arguments was Wurmling's text who stated that Eolas vs. Microsoft showed best practise for SME. Incompetence and lies rule within the EU parliament. We shall not let patent lawyer interest groups win this battle.
Why didn't he go the Michael Steil go to the police since it is criminal action in Germany to illegally delete someones data?
See
http://swpat.ffii.org/players/us/
a page that gives a small glimpse.
At the recent OECD conference, the US government's representative said that such conferences are useless and the debates of the economists harmful, because the patent system as is is "basically good" and the US will not permit any policy except one that "extends and strengthens" this system. The same representatives have also been doing their best to kill discussions on proper limits of "IP" at WIPO and other UN organisations.
http://www.ipjustice.org/081103codepress.shtml
"If this proposal becomes a reality, major companies from abroad can use 'intellectual property' regulations to gain control over the lives of ordinary European citizens and threaten digital freedoms", said Andy Muller-Maguhn.
http://www.ipjustice.org/ipenforcewhitepaper.shtml
---
:-) Please also look at the evidence of anti-conspiracy conspiracy theory:
discussion: sept 11 (WTC 2001)
issued by EUC at January 30 2003(Hitler's takeover of power 1933)
In any case: burst is a patent privateer. And we shall not support evil companies. http://www.noepatents.org
In the US it was never iopenly discussed in parliament, it was done within the not democratic controlled US patent system.
P atents
/index.html for a protest page alarming even more people.
AEL has collected even more useful material
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/FightingSW
and there is a nice Letter of Tord Jansson
We have so many statements, and arguments. The EU conducted so many studies...
It is not a lack of intellect or arguments but a lack of power.
http://www.bustpatents.org
The movement for world-wide software patents is coming to a new high we are now 10 days ahead of the time when the european parliament is about to follow the US into patentability of software, business methods and it's not even clear to them because the words used have been very much stretched into endless terms of patentability(e.g. "technical")
If the EU adopts software patents, they will become global enforceable. That's when the real problem will begin.
Please help us to spread the word to attract people to a street performance on August 27th in Brussels(Old Europe). We also hope that webmasters against software patents can replace their
What if your child asks you one day: Where have you been when they
introduced software patents?
Technical contribution is not defined. This is a trap. Law does not always mean what it says. Se for instance: http://swpat.ffii.org/papiere/eubsa-swpat0202/tech /index.en.html
More on McCarthy:
http://swpat.ffii.org/akteure/amccarthy/index.en.h tml
FAX Is more appropiate. Document what you did in the community tool http://aktiv.ffii.org Dont' spam. Be polite. Ask for amendments to McCarthys proposal. So read the texts on swpat.ffii.org first. Demand a definition of technical in the directive. Tell them you don't want Amazon vs. Barnes and Noble in the EU. Or MS vs. Eolas (500 mio $) or other patent privateers. Tell them what the W3C says.
Patents on software are crap. Help us to prevent European softweare Patents Vote will be Sept 1st in the EU Parliament. Anti-swpat-activists
/*SCO has declared war on the foundations of the open source community and we should be responding appropriately.*/ SCO's behaviour is against common business rules, in some states illegal (Germany: anti-competetive behaviour). We shall exhaust all possibilities of legal action against SCO.
No way. Patents are very expensive. Small companies and individuals simply can't afford them.
Eu-Parlamentarians Search engine.
/*I am not sure but if the EU starts to accept software patents will the US patents be enforceable through WIPO or similar. If so then the EU will already be at a loss as all the US patents will come into force and by typing this I am probably breaking a few of them :)*/
This will be the next step. See FFII swpat AG for comprehensive details or join a Mailinglist patents@Aful.org or bxl@ffii.org
Just a few quotes:
Indeed, for those of you who were here this morning and listened to the people in the software industry talk about how threatening this is to their businesses, as I see it, patents today are often entrenching the established at the expense of allowing the newcomer to come in. I question today whether a Steve Jobs could start an Apple or a Bill Gates could start a Microsoft in view of the web and thicket of patents that is out there.
Joshua Kaplan, Intouch
Oracle Corporation opposes the patentability of software. The Company believes that existing copyright law and available trade secret protections, as opposed to patent law, are better suited to protecting computer software developments.
Oracle 1994
The mind has always been sacrosanct. The claim that intellectual processes and logical procedures (that do not primarily manipulate devices) can be possessed and monopolized extends greed and avarice much too far. Algorithmic intellectual processes must remain unpatentable -- even when represented by binary coding in a computer; even when executed by the successor to the calculator.[..]The company for which I am speaking, Autodesk, holds some number of software patents and has applied for others -- which, of course, remain secret under current U.S. law. However, all are defensive -- an infuriating waste of our technical talent and financial resources, made necessary only by the lawyer's invention of software patents. Autodesk has faced at least 17 baseless patent claims made against it and has spent over a million dollars defending itself, with millions more certain to pour down the bottomless patent pit unless we halt this debacle. Fortunately -- unlike smaller software producers -- we have the financial and technical resources to rebuff such claims.
Jim Warren (Autodesk) 1994
The time and money we spend on patent filings, prosecution, and maintenance, litigation and licensing could be better spent on product development and research leading to more innovation. But we are filing hundreds of patents each year for reasons unrelated to promoting or protecting innovation.
Robert Barr (CISCO) 2002
Please help the Europeans to avoid Arlene McCarthys patent directive legislation. You shall sign the Eurolinux-Petition http://noepatents.org and support FFII http://swpat.ffii.org or other groups http://softwarepatents.co.uk
Talk to your EU representatives and tell them what you think about software patents, what they mean for your business. Stop the sausage machine as MEP Rothley (pro-swPat] denounced parliament legislation.
More information about swpat-legislation in the EU.
Bruce, what can we do in order to improve lobbying. what do you intend to do in Europe (software patent directive), will you support the work of FFII and all the other groups?
IP comprises many conflicting areas of law, and it is no judicial term. In Germany the proper word is "Immaterialgüterrecht" immaterial good rights. Well, software patents are bad for businesses.
Take a look at this Halloween-document of Ms Germany: http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/MS%20Germany And additional information about MS http://swpat.ffii.org/players/microsoft/index.en.h tml
in Europe redHat and gnome are weaker than KDE. Everybody uses KDE... Evolution was the more advanced application, now it looses ground and many other projects get mature.
This is crap. Hope the SCO employees feel ashamed for their company. IP law in the hand of failed companies is dangerous. But the lack of proper legislation in the US against anti-competitive behaiviour is even more dangerous. Do they also sell a license to kill SCO. If SCO was concerned about their IP they wouldn't start as dirty media campaign. SCO House construction: I own your house because a worker of yours used one of my brick stoness .-)
/*Estonia is a country where hot, running water was a luxury a decade ago.*/ :-) haha. The soviet union was not the third world.
Estonia is a nice country. However I prefer Western Europe.
Estonia is very small, so Estonia=its Capital.
I lived in ghana. An internet connection lasts 45 minutes. They even don't have constant power supply. ghana will face a business boom as soon as mayor problems are resolved. However, don't believe in the word "digital divide", IT removes divide. Wealth distribution is very unequal in ghana, nobody cares, because they avoid social clashes. work hierarchy is based of age, you don't critizise someone who is older than you. ghanians avoid conflict. That results to peacefulness and poor service quality. the most rude thing someone says who originates from Ghana: Oh, you really disappointed me. Ghanians are not able to manage a business. Stupid us-style christ fundamentalism is on the rise. Press, meida is horrible. Government even more. Everybody likes titels and politicians like to talk as much as possible. A parliament's member moves from one western organisation to another. Today Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, tomorrow Alliance Francaise. And after that time they are on a trip to the US Congress. Politicians in ghana: a waste of democracy. They talk, they don't work. however I like the film industry of ghana and nigeria. And especially the people.
Where does this law apply?
European Parliament Rejects Attempt to Rush Vote on Software Patent Brussels 20030626 For immediate Release The European Parliament has postponed the vote on the software patent directive back to the original date of 1st of September, thereby rejecting initially successful efforts of its rapporteur Arlene McCarthy (UK Labour MEP of Manchester who acted as a rapporteur for the directive in the parliament) and her supporters to rush to vote on June 30th, a mere twelve days after publication of the highly controversial report and tend days after the unexpected change of schedule. Background Members of Parliament from all parties had complained that it was impossible to react adequately within a timeframe of 10 days. Until Wednesday, leaders of the two largest blocks, the socialists (PSE) and conservatives (PPE), seemed determined to follow the recommentations of their "patent experts" and go ahead with the vote quickly. They explained that there was no reason to wait, because all possible amendment proposals had already been submitted to the committees and translated to all languages, and there was no need for new amendments. This view however became increasingly difficult to uphold, as more and more MEPs in all parties became aware of the schedule change and pointed out that they wanted to prepare new amendments. Within the socialist group, a large opposition group, possibly the majority, gathered around Michel Rocard (FR), Luis Berenguer (ES), Evelyn Gebhardt (DE), Olga Zrihen (BE) and other MEPs who had played a prominent role in resisting software patentability. On Wednesday the climate change became apparent. More and more MEPs rumored that the schedule would not be upheld. Even (11)Arlene McCarthy was quoted as saying that it might be too tight. A spokesman from the (12)General Directorate for the Internal Market of the European Commission, which has been pushing for the directive together with Arlene McCarthy and other allies in the Parliaments Commitee for Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI), meanwhile told journalists: "Arlene McCarthy has tried hard to have the vote conducted on June 30th, but as things now stand, this looks rather unlikely." On Thursday morning, at the meeting of the secretary generals, the representatives of all political groups voted for postponment. Their vote was confirmed by the conference of presidents (i.e. head of transnational party groups) during their session at 3 p.m. At 8 p.m. the decision was made public on the Parliament's (13)schedule webpage. Many software professionals have been contacting their MEPs in recent days. A letter by (14)Tim Jackson, operations manager for Internet Assist Ltd in Chelmsford, UK, reflects the mood : Almost all involved in software in Europe, bar a select few large corporations, and law firms who make money from litigation and legal complexities, are opposed to software patenting. There is a huge groundswell of opinion amongst the real software engineers (who understand the complex process and history of software development) which favours strong and unambiguous prohibition of patents on software. Copyright is the right tool to protect software, not patents. By using grossly misleading and emotive language such as "giving software innovators the protection they deserve" the proponents are trying to give the appearance that software developers and businesses are crying out for "protection" by patents, when quite the opposite is true - we (and society at large) actually want and need protection from software patents! (...) If any of you intend to vote in favour of the proposed Directive, may I ask you to be so kind as to explain to myself your reasons for concluding that this is in the interests of Europe? The eyes of many IT-literate constituents are on you, and you will undoubtedly permanently lose many of our votes (certainly including mine) should you choose to support this assault on our livelihoods and interests. This groundswell of public sentiment, together with a concerted lobbying effort by a group of 2000 software companies