Fighting software patents in Europe

[Richard Stallman]

SOFTWARE PATENTS AND EUROPEAN SMALL/MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

A conference organized by the Greens-efa 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. Bakels, 
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 Wim Lie, CEO 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 
:"Software patents: restricting users and SMEs for the megacorporations ?
"
12:00   Conclusion MEP Dany Cohn-Bendit, co-chairman of the Green/efa group in 
European Parliament

After the conference a 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
http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/05/07/

Translation is available in al EU language
Access in free however registration is mandatory