EuroLinux Seminar on Software Patents

EuroLinux Seminar on Software Patents: 15 years of software patent practise at the European Patent Office Stuttgart, 5th July 2001

Munich, Paris. 2001-06-27-- FFII, ENEF.org - a European association of Internet startup companies, EuroLinux and VoV - the Internet section of the German social democrat party, will organise on July 5th at LinuxTag in Stuttgart a seminar to study the concept of the technical invention in the European patent system.

http://swpat.ffii.org/penmi/linuxtag-2001/

Recently the patentability of software and business methods has become a subject of an intense public debate with expert input from a wide range of fields, including engineering, informatics, law, economics and philosophy. At the core of this debate lies the distinction between matter-based "technical inventions" and mind-based "rules of organisation and calculation". This requirement of "technicity", in its original meaning, leads to the exclusion of software and intangible services from patentability. The notion of technicity, in its recent meaning defined by judges at the European Patent Office, leads to the patentability of software and intangible services and to a de facto limitless patent system.

The seminar will study the evolution of the meaning of technicity in the last 15 years. Participants include lawyers, software specialists, representatives of professional associations, politicians, civil servants and researchers.

The seminar will be organised at LinuxTag in Germany, one of the most active market for free/opensource software in Europe. LinuxTag is the biggest Linux exhibition in the world. Free software is actively supported by the German governments which sponsors projects such a GPG as well as the Berlios opensource software portal (http://www.berlios.de).

Registration
If you want to participate, please contact linuxtag-2001@ffii.org.

About EuroLinux - www.EuroLinux.org
The EuroLinux Alliance for a Free Information Infrastructure is an open coalition of commercial companies and non-profit associations united to promote and protect a vigourous European Software Culture based on Open Standards, Open Competition, Linux and Open Source Software. Companies members or supporters of EuroLinux develop or sell software under free, semi-free and non-free licenses for operating systems such as Linux, MacOS or Windows.

The EuroLinux Alliance launched on 2000-06-15 an electronic petition to protect software innovation in Europe. The EuroLinux petition has received so far massive support from more than 80.000 European citizens, 2000 corporate managers and 300 companies.

The EuroLinux Alliance has co-organised in 1999, together with the French Embassy in Japan, the first Europe-Japan conference on Linux and Free Software. The EuroLinux Alliance is at the initiative of the www.freepatents.org web site to promote and protect innovation and competition in the European IT industry.

Press Contacts
France & Europe: Stefane Fermigier sf@fermigier.com +33-6 63 04 12 77
Germany & Europe: Harmut Pilch phm@ffii.org +49-89 127 89 608
Denmark and Northern Europe: Anne O/stergaard aoe@sslug.dk
Belgium: Nicolas Pettiaux nicolas.pettiaux@linuxbe.org

Permanent URL for this PR
http://petition.EuroLinux.org/pr/pr12.html
http://petition.EuroLinux.org/pr/pr12.pdf

Legalese
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