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this is a little late since the action mentoned in this is supposed to take place today, but this is not a good thing and you all should take a peek:
it goes on and the rest can be read here: http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5068007.html?tag=fd_top
Patent battle to culminate in Brussels
By Matthew Broersma
Special to CNET News.com
August 26, 2003, 8:25 AM PT
More than 600 Web sites plan to take part in an online protest against a proposed European law on software patents that's timed to coincide with a real-life protest in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday.
Those rallying against the proposal, including some of Europe's most prominent scientists and software businesses, believe its current draft would open the door to the patenting of software and business processes, effectively shutting out software competition from small and medium-size developers.
The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), which is organizing the online protest, is urging Web sites to temporarily replace their front pages with a note of protest. Some sites are also redirecting people to a petition and a call for action against the proposed directive that regards patents of computer-implemented inventions, which will be submitted to the European Parliament for approval on Sept. 1.
The call for action has already amassed more than 7,000 names since earlier this year, including several members of European Parliament and developers such as Opera Software, while the more general petition has accumulated more than 170,000 names.
"Leaders of the scientific communities and software business world took the directive proposal apart and condemned it in every respect. Yet in June, the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Commission endorsed this proposal with further amendments that make it even worse," Benjamin Henrion, one of the protest organizers, said in a statement. "More and more people are now seeing this very clearly."
By Matthew Broersma
Special to CNET News.com
August 26, 2003, 8:25 AM PT
More than 600 Web sites plan to take part in an online protest against a proposed European law on software patents that's timed to coincide with a real-life protest in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday.
Those rallying against the proposal, including some of Europe's most prominent scientists and software businesses, believe its current draft would open the door to the patenting of software and business processes, effectively shutting out software competition from small and medium-size developers.
The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), which is organizing the online protest, is urging Web sites to temporarily replace their front pages with a note of protest. Some sites are also redirecting people to a petition and a call for action against the proposed directive that regards patents of computer-implemented inventions, which will be submitted to the European Parliament for approval on Sept. 1.
The call for action has already amassed more than 7,000 names since earlier this year, including several members of European Parliament and developers such as Opera Software, while the more general petition has accumulated more than 170,000 names.
"Leaders of the scientific communities and software business world took the directive proposal apart and condemned it in every respect. Yet in June, the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Commission endorsed this proposal with further amendments that make it even worse," Benjamin Henrion, one of the protest organizers, said in a statement. "More and more people are now seeing this very clearly."
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