IT Industry Statements

Most of the following statements come from reputable European IT industry managers.

10 European Industry Leaders Raise Concerns about Software Patents

In june 1999, 10 industry leaders including the inventors of the Web, of Push Technology, creators of leading database software, e-commerce software, etc. warned governments on the dangers of software patents.

http://www.eurolinux.org/pr/pr1.html

Consensus of German SMEs against software patents at the Ministry of Economy

Representatives of successful german software publishing companies such as Intradat AG, Phaidros AG, Infomatec AG and SuSE Linux AG as well as other smaller german software companies clearly expressed their opposition to the extension of the patent system to the realm of informational goods.

http://swpat.ffii.org/penmi/bmwi-20000518/indexen.html

EuroLinux-DG XV Meeting Summary

A delegation of European software publishers and software associations met M. Nooteboom, M. Mueller and M. Ravillart at the European Commission (DG XV). This delegation explained it would never accept patents on information (software is a kind of information) due to their many inconsistencies and negative economic effects. The delegation also considered as tolerable to patent the use in a physical device of a given technical computing technique.

http://eurolinux.ffii.org/news/euipCAen.html

The FFII printable documents collection

A large collection of letters and statements from software publishers in Europe and in the US. Includes statements against abuses of software patents from: Adobe, Oracle, Borland, Linux Verband, SuSE, LiVE, Intradat, etc.

http://swpat.ffii.org/vreji/prina/indexen.html