[ILUG] [patents] MS using "fake SMEs" for lobbying (fwd)

[jm at jmason.org]

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Talking of patents -- this FFII press release is almost funny. EICTA is
one of the major pro-swpat lobbying organisations in Europe, clearly
getting a bit desperate.

- --j.

> ======================================================================== 
> ======EICTA sends Microsoft to represent SMEs on software patents in EP
> ======================================================================== 
> ======
> Brussels, 25 April 2005 -- Apparently unable to find enough
> independent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to lobby for
> software patents, EICTA has resorted to sending companies to the
> European Parliament in which its multinational members hold a strong
> position. Additionally, several SMEs who were inspired by this action
> and signed EICTA's appeal turn out not to have any software patents at
> all.
> 
> "The patent system in Europe has worked well for us in the past", says
> Jan Ishøj Nielsen, CEO of PremiTech A/S. However, he forgets to
> mention that his company's first European software patent is still
> waiting to be granted (its US cousin is already valid) and that the
> Chairman of the Board of his company is Klaus Holse Andersen, VP
> Microsoft Business Solutions EMEA. Mr. Andersen was previously also
> CEO of the investment company IVS, another signatory of EICTA's
> demands.
> 
> Apart from sending SMEs to Brussels, EICTA also organised a letter
> writing campaign to the European Parliament. While for most companies
> the CEO has signed this letter, in case of Giritech the CTO observes
> the honours. One reason for this might be that the CEO of Giritech,
> René Stockne, has a second job as global manager for Microsoft
> Navision. This is the same Microsoft Navision that threatened the
> Danish government with moving out of Denmark if the software patents
> do not come through.
> 
> Jonas Maebe, FFII Board Member, adds:
> 
>    It is really sad how low EICTA is sinking here. Unable to factually
>    counter the resistance to software patents from real SME
>    associations such as UEAPME and CEAPME, they are now resorting to
>    dressing up Microsoft as an SME. "Oh, grandmother, what big teeth
>    you have got" indeed.
> 
> Some other companies that signed the letter and which are not tied to
> any big firms, have simply been improperly informed about the reach of
> the European Parliament's amendments. For example, Te Strake, an
> innovative Dutch SME active in the field of "mechatronics", owns
> several patents on inventions related to automated weaving. According
> to an analysis performed by the FFII, all of their patents would
> remain enforceable under the directive as approved by European
> Parliament in first reading.
> 
> Hartmut Pilch, President of the FFII, comments on the results of
> FFII's preliminary analysis:
> 
>    Preliminary research shows that most of these companies own less
>    than a handful of patents and that the claimed solutions either
>    involve forces of nature and are largely unaffected by the
>    Parliament's first reading, or are in the realm of abstract problem
>    descriptions or business methods and thus should, according to these
>    companies' own "Manifesto", not be patentable.
> 
> Nevertheless, the fact that EICTA's tactics work to a certain extent
> was demonstrated last week at the European Parliament's Legal Affairs
> Committee (JURI) meeting. A number of MEPs there was convinced that
> most SMEs do want software patents, and that "only programmers" oppose
> them. The FFII therefore urgently calls upon the real SMEs to stand up
> and to make their voice heard in Brussels.
> 
> ======================================================================== 
> =Extra information
> ======================================================================== 
> =
> * An overview of the analysed patents, the "SME manifesto" and EICTA's  
> PR
> can be found at
>      http://swpat.ffii.org/log/05/eictasme04/
> 
> * Report on the JURI Committee meeting of 21 April 2005:
>      http://wiki.ffii.org/JuriPr050421En
> 
> * Transcripts from the JURI Committee meeting of 21 April 2005:
>      http://wiki.ffii.org/Juri050421En
> 
> * Microsoft threatens to move Navision out of Denmark:
>      http://wiki.ffii.org/Navision050215En
> 
> * Permanent link to this press release:
>      http://wiki.ffii.org/EictaSme050425En
> 
> ======================================================================== 
> =Contact
> ======================================================================== 
> =
> Hartmut Pilch and Holger Blasum (Munich Office)
> info at ffii org
> tel. 0049-89-18979927
> 
> Jonas Maebe
> jmaebe at ffii org
> tel. 0032-485-369645
> 
> Erik Josefsson (Brussels Office)
> erjos at ffii org
> tel. 0032-2-7396262
> 
> Dieter Van Uytvanck:
> dieter at vrijschrift.org
> tel. 0031-6-275-87910
> 
> ======================================================================== 
> =About FFII -- http://www.ffii.org
> ======================================================================== 
> =
> The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a
> non-profit association registered in several European countries, which
> is dedicated to the spread of data processing literacy. The FFII
> supports the development of public information goods based on
> copyright, free competition, open standards. More than 500 members,
> 1,400 companies and 80,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act
> as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights
> (intellectual property) in data processing.  The FFII maintains
> offices in Munich and Brussels and national supporter groups in most
> European countries.
> 
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