Letters and Appeals to Patent Legislators

Activism of 1999-2002
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FFII and others sent these letters to more or less influential players of patent policy around 1999-2002, and we received quite favorable resonance mostly from elected legislators. The collection needs to be updated with pointers to more recent activities.

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*Call for Action:
The European Commission's proposal for the patentability of software innovations requires a clear response from the European Parliament, the member state governments and other political players. Here is what we think should be done.
*PHM to AMccarthy 03/06/10: Questions based on 2 Example Patent Claims:
Hartmut Pilch of FFII writes publicly to Arlene McCarthy, citing an algorithm claim and a business method claim, both of which have been granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) against the letter and spirit of the European Patent Convention, and both of which have US cousins which have already caused considerable damage. Some of Arlene McCarthy's public statements seem to exclude patents on algorithms and business methods while others seem to make such patents unavoidable. Arlene McCarthy should explain this contradiction in unambiguous terms, based on example patents. Arlene McCarthy did not answer. The closest to an answer was a statement in JURI on June 16:
We have attemted to set some limits in perhaps a moderately restrictive way, without entirely reinventing patent law, which I would hasten to add, we are not in ability to do that, we are legislators to create framework and laws for interpretation by experts, but we are not experts ourselves.
*XDrudis to AMccarthy 03/06/10: Your Note on Directive COM (2002) 92:
Xavier Drudis Ferran from Catalan Linux Users Group (CALIU) informs Arlene McCarthy MEP of his analysis of the FAQ which she had distributed to the participants of the FFII/Eurolinux conference in the Dorint Hotel in Brussels on 03/05/07-8, points out some fallacies in this document and invites McCarthy to engage in the dialogue about whose absence she has been complaining to journalists. This letter remains unanswered.
*FFII calls on Committee of National Parliaments (COSAC) to review Council Patent legislation:
The lack of democratic control in the EU's lawmaking system has been a cause of concern for decades. In particular the Council's legislative processes are notoriously intransparent. One approach to address this problem is the Committee of National Parliaments (COSAC). A protocol to the Amsterdam Treaty assigns this committee important functions in the Council's legislative process. These functions have been grossly neglected in the case of the software patent directive. Vrijschrift, the dutch branch of the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, has written a letter to COSAC president Sharon Dijksma, to raise concerns and call for an intervention of COSAC before September 24th, the date when the Council will presumably meet to rubberstamp a "political agreement" from 2004-05-18 to remove all limits on patentability of "computer-implemented" algorithms and business methods, thereby radically overturning the legislative proposals of the European Parliament as well as the consultative organs of the EU.
*Beschwerde an das ZDF wegen Heute-Journal-Beitrag über %(q:Raubkopierer und Ideenklauer):
In dem beanstandeten Film-Beitrag von Manfred Ahlers vom 6. Juli 2004 wird der FFII e.V. durch Verfälschung und Weglassen wesentlicher Tatsachen sowie durch Einsatz von Suggestivmethoden wahrheitswidrig als Interessenvertretung von Softwarepiraten und Raubkopierern diskreditiert. Inhalt und Form des Beitrages verstoßen dabei gegen die im ZDF-Staatsvertrag festgeschriebenen Programmgrundsätze und gegen die Programmrichtlinien des ZDF.
*Brief von BVMW, Patentverein und FFII an den Bundeskanzler:
Zwei Tage vor dem Gipfeltreffen der deutschen Patentbewegung, auf dem Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder und Justizministerin Brigitte Zypries zusammen mit Siemens-Chef Heinrich von Pierer das Patentwesen und den Einsatz der Regierung für Softwarepatente in der EU feiern werden, üben die Vorsitzenden des Bundesverbandes der Mittelständischen Wirtschaft, des Patentvereins und des Fördervereins für eine Freie Informationelle Infrastruktur scharfe Kritik an der zügellosen Entwicklung des Patentwesens in Deutschland. Das Kanzleramt versprach, den Brief dem Kanzler vorzulegen. Justizministerin Brigitte Zypries antwortete 8 Wochen später an Stelle des Bundeskanzlers durch einen Brief, in dem sie einen Konsens über die angeblich überragende Bedeutung des Patentwesens für die Förderung der Innovation konstatiert und einen Teil der bekannten BMJ-Falschaussagen über die Haltung der Bundesregierung zu Softwarepatenten wiederholt. Auf die Ausführungen des Schreibens der drei Verbände wird nicht eingegangen. Dafür wird eine Fortsetzung von Dialog, u.a. durch eine öffentliche "Fachdiskussion" zum Thema "Schutz computerimplementierter Erfindungen -- Wie geht es weiter?" am 21. Oktober in München angekündigt.
*FFII invites OpenForumEurope to explain how text patents benefit open source software:
Open Forum Europe is lobbying the European Parliament in the name of "open source companies" in order to make software directly patentable and to ensure that interoperable software may not be written. We invited Graham Taylor of Open Forum to explain. An short dialog followed, in which Taylor presented himself as naively well-believing about the meaning of what he signed and reluctant to repair the damage.
*FFII an Bitkom: Gesetzentwürfe an Testsuite messen!:
On 2002-05-07 the German IT association Bitkom published a press release supporting the EU Directive Proposal for the patentability of "comuter-implemented inventions". After a phone conversation with the authors of the press release, Hartmut Pilch wrote a letter to Bitkom which we publish here. The letter explains a methodological consensus position which at first sight seemed convincing to the Bitkom people.
*Letter to Telecom CEOs:
Draft by Jacob Hallen
*Questions to the President of the European Patent Office:
Suggestions to members of the European Parliament
*Urgent Call to National Governments and Parliaments:
Europe's governments are about to put their stamps under a directive proposal for unlimited patentability and unfettered patent enforcement of "computer-implemented" algorithms and business methods. The agreement by the Council of Ministers of 2004-05-18 discards well-deliberated decisions of the European Parliament and the EU's consultative organs without any justification and without democratic legitimation. The majority was secured by deceptive packaging and by questionable diplomatic maneuvering at the decisive session. The undersigned, who represent the leaders of software innovation and informed discussion on software innovation policy in Europe, ask the responsible politicians to pull the emergency brake and to reorganise the process of competitivity legislation in the Council.
*FFII/Eurolinux 2003/04 Letter to Software Creators and Users:
The European Parliament is likely to ratify a Software Patent Directive, possibly with helpful amendments, in May. As a software creator/user, your participation can make a difference, even if you are willing to spend less than 1 hour. Here are a few simple and effective things to do.
*2003/08 Letter to Software Creators and Users:
The European Parliament will, in its plenary session on September 1st, decide on a directive proposal which ensures that algorithms and business methods like Amazon One Click Shopping become patentable inventions in Europe. This proposal has the backing of about half of the parliament. Please help us make sure that it will be rejected. Here are some things to do.
*Software Patent Events Wednesday 2003/08/27 12.00-16.00:
Letter to Members of the European Parliament
*Appell an die Bundesregierung:
The Federal Government is pushing Brussels for legalisation of patents which it is at the same time infringing. It has so far not published a position concerning the software patentability directive proposal of the European Commission. While the parliament and the ministeries are on the whole rather critical, the lawyer-diplomats from the ministry of justice are pushing the European Council toward even more radically pro-software-patent counter-proposal. The signatories direct four demands to the German Government.
*2001/01: Brief an das BMJ:
Der FFII erhielt vom Bundesministerium der Justiz (BMJ) ein Schreiben, in dem Auskunft über die Ergebnisse der Diplomatischen Konferenz zur Revision des Europäischen Patentübereinkommens gegeben und zu Stellungnahmen aufgerufen wird. Dies geschieht mit diesem Brief. Der FFII kritisiert u.a. erneut die Übernahme der TRIPs-Formel "auf allen Gebieten der Technik" in Art 52 EPÜ.
*Offener Brief: 5 Gesetzesinitiativen zum Schutz der Informatischen Innovation:
Please help us to improve and work out the law initiatives. If you can speak in the name of an IT company or an IT organisation, please allow us to list you as a signatory. Below you find only the letter body. The complete letter with numerous appendices is sent as a paper version to politicians.
*Eur. Patentamt begehrt grenzenlose Patentierbarkeit:
Offener Brief zum "Basisvorschlag für die Revision des Europäischen Patentübereinkommens"
*Musterbrief zum Schutz der Informatischen Innovation:
You could sign and send this or a similar letter to your parliamentary representative or numerous other decisionmakers.
*Euro-Patente in Logiksprache!:
The EU patent organisations should help fund the development of free software for the parsing and automatic translation of Logical Language texts. By doing so it could in the end save very much money and trouble for patent owners while at the same time making legal information multilingual and maximally accessible to the public and the enterprises.
*Leserbriefe an Presseorgane:
Die Presse wird als "Artillerie der Freiheit" gerühmt. Allerdings finden Journalisten nicht immer die Zeit, sich kundig zu machen. Besonders in komplexen Sachgebieten wie SWPAT bedarf es der Nachhilfe durch Leserbriefe.
*Brief an den Wettbewerbskommissar:
Wir haben diesen Brief, den mittlerweile an die 10000 Menschen unterschrieben haben, an Herrn Van Miert weitergeleitet und werden auch seinen Nachfolger sowie weitere Kommissionsmitglieder und zuständige Stellen davon unterrichten.

Letters from other sources

->Phil Karn: The US Patent System is Out of Control
contains some very knowledgable and moving letters from an experienced telecom programmer to American politicians
->European Consultation on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Rules of Organisation and Calculation (= Programs for Computers)
On 2000-10-19 the European Commission's Industrial Property Unit published a position paper which tries to describe a legal reasoning similar to that which the European Patent Office has during recent years been using to justify its practise of granting software patents against the letter and spirit of the written law, and called on companies and industry associations to comment on this reasoning. The consultation was evidently conceived as a mobilisation exercise for patent departments of major corporations and associations. The consultation paper itself stated the viewpoint of the European Patent Office and asked questions that could only be reasonably answered by patent lawyers. Moreover, it was accompanied by an "independent study", carried out under the order of the EC IndProp Unit by a well known patent movement think-tank, which basically stated the same viewpoint. Patent law experts of various associations and corporations responded, mostly by applauding the paper and explaining that patents are needed to stimulate innovation and to protect the interests of small and medium-size companies. However there were also quite a few associations, companies and more than 1000 individuals, mostly programmers, who expressed their opposition to the extension of patentability to the realm of software, business methods, intellectual methods and other immaterial products and processes. The EC IndProp Unit later failed to adequately publish the consultation results and moderate a discussion. Therefore we are doing this, and you can help us.
->(The Eurolinux Software Patent Consultation Page)
about 1000 submissions of European programmers to the European Commission

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