Gnu-Friends Digest 7/11/04

[Brian Gough]

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This is the Weekly digest for http://www.Gnu-Friends.org/
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Dutch Parliament leads increasing opposition to EU Council decision 
among other governments 
  By brian, 2004-07-10 11:54:20 
  Section: News

[From FFII] The European Commission's CORDIS news service has reported
that the decision of the "political agreement" of the Council of
Ministers on software patents is losing support among other national
governments, including Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Portugal,
following the vote by the Dutch Parliament to direct their Minister to
withdraw approval for the directive (see below).

http://www.gnu-friends.org/story/2004/7/10/112026/043

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Open Letter to the Frauenhofer Institute concerning software patents 
  By brian, 2004-07-10 11:54:10 
  Section: News

Georg Greve, the president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, has
written an open letter to the Frauenhofer Institute, most widely known for
its patents on the MP3 audio compression standard, outlining the dangers
to research and innovation posed by software patents. 

As an illustration, the letter points out that 60% of Frauenhofer
Institute orders come from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while
current economic research indicates that software patents irreversibly
damage the SME sector, by allowing only a few large enterprises to gain a
dominant market position and block related competing innovations.

http://www.gnu-friends.org/story/2004/7/10/11540/1630

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FSF Europe Newsletter 
  By brian, 2004-07-10 11:52:01 
  Section: News

FSF Europe has published its monthly newsletter for July, with stories
covering Georg Greve in South America, the Wizards of OS conference, and
support from Firenze Tecnologia among others.

http://www.gnu-friends.org/story/2004/7/10/112435/799

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AFFS, UKCDR & FFII-UK campaign training day (17 July, Reading UK) 
  By brian, 2004-07-08 14:43:52 
  Section: News

The UK's Association for Free Software (AFFS) is participating in a
campaign training day alongside UKCDR and FFII, and has a number of free
spaces to offer to members who wish to attend. The training day will take
place on July 17th, 10.30am - 5pm, in Reading, and will cover basic
grassroots campaigning theory, with workshops and practical discussions
relevant to software freedom and digital rights. Registration is required,
email to frontdesk@affs.org.uk to reserve a place or for further details. 

http://www.gnu-friends.org/story/2004/7/8/144329/8312

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Dutch Parliament forces government to withdraw support for software 
patents directive 
  By brian, 2004-07-05 17:58:18 
  Section: News

[From FFII - July 1st] The Dutch Parliament has directed Minister
Brinkhorst and Secretary of State van Gennip (Economic Affairs) to
withdraw the Dutch vote in support of the Council of Ministers' text for
the Directive on Software Patents. This is the first time in the history
of the EU that such a course of action has been undertaken, and represents
an incisive criticism of the European Council of Ministers' attempts to
introduce broad patentability of software. 

http://www.gnu-friends.org/story/2004/7/5/175746/2396

-- 
Brian Gough

Network Theory Ltd,
Publishing Free Software Manuals --- http://www.network-theory.co.uk/