[Fsfe-ie] Gay Mitchell

[Ciaran O'Riordan]

> Lets wait and see, [...]

9 days gives us time to do more than just wait.

The most important thing to do is to get Irish companies into the parliament
this week to talk to the Irish MEPs.  Contacting companies directly is
probably the most successful way to achieve this.

Second most important is to get the press release finished and sent.

Third would be to get Irish companies to phone the MEPs.  Here's some info
that can be used by them:
http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/SwpatBulletPoints
http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/SwpatMepArguments

Fourth is to contact the MEPs yourself.  The best way to do it is to send an
email, and use the phone call as a follow-up.  For the email, I think it's
best to draw the MEPs attention to something noteworthy, instead of just
speaking for yourself.  Maybe sending them this:
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/pub/against-swpat.pdf
would give you something to talk about.  ...but it would be better to find a
way to discuss jobs in ireland.  National things are much more important to
MEPs than European things, and jobs have become a buzzword.

...like point out that there are over 43,000 software patents waiting to
become enforceable against Irish companies, compared to the only 32 software
patents waiting to become enforceable *by* Irish companies.

The numbers can be checked on gauss.ffii.org Here's the totals for the
biggest patent owning countries:
http://gauss.ffii.org/Statistics/Granted/CountryApplicant/ (they add up to
~43,000, and there's still a few more smaller countries that have to be
added.)  Here's Ireland's software patent owners:
http://gauss.ffii.org/Statistics/Granted/CountryApplicant/IE

...but remember that gauss is an approximation, based on keywords plus some
some irregular human review.

Tell the MEPs that they've been decieved about what we want to be
non-patentable.  Washing machines that use software are ok, mobile phone
(but not the communication standards they use) are ok, digital tomography,
is ok.  What's not ok?  Represenations of information, standards, protocols,
ways of using your computer to do what you want done.

(all help appreciated.)

Here's the latest FFII news letter "What's Hot" which was sent to the public
BXL mailing list today:

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What's Hot Issue 5: The last 10 days
bxl [at] ffii.org

What's cooling down
-------------------

       20 June  JURI committee votes on software patents

                We lost that vote, which put us in a bad position.

       22 June  EICTA European Innovation Day. A big proswpat event by
                the self-proclaimed "industry". At the European
                Parliament and the Rennaissance Hotel (which is close
                to the European Parliament).


Important pending events
------------------------

29 June         CEAPME conference at the European Parliament
                http://wiki.ffii.org/Konf050629En

5 July afternoon (unconfirmed)   European Parliament plenary debate

6 July noon (unconfirmed)        European Parliament plenary vote


What's hot
----------

During the last few weeks there has been so much work that I just
didn't have enough time to write What's Hot. In fact, it wasn't so
much time, but lack of processing capacity that kept me: to write
What's Hot, especially to choose which information is publishable and
which is not, I need a clear mind, whereas we have been running around
too much. I don't give you much information in this issue either, but
I give you, I hope, all you need to know.

So now, ladies and gentlemen, here we are. Less than 10 days until the
second reading. The final 100 meters. What we have been preparing for
for more than 3 years. If we lose, that's it. Software patents will
plague Europe for many years to come. If we win, we still have more
way to go, but it is unlikely that we'll lose the rest of the
procedure, unless we sit back and relax too much.

We have won the silver medal already. We have shown to ourselves, to
our friends, to the politicians, and to the world, that we can make a
difference. We have made a difference, and we will continue to,
irrespective of the result. But now we are going for the gold, and
things are far from easy. After the negative JURI vote, we have
entered the final 100 meters with a significant disadvantage. At the
same time, the majority requirements are against us; our lobbyists are
vastly outnumbered; our opponents have infinitely more money, and
better access to the press.  It makes no sense to make any predictions
right now. We are trying for the best. We are prepared for the worst.


What you must still do
----------------------

1) Participate in the web demo, http://noepatents.eu.org/. Talk to
   people and convince them to participate too. Check the demo pages
   frequently for updates.  A large web demo can attract media
   attention.

2) Prepare your visit to Strasbourg, for a demonstration on the
   morning of 5 July.  The demo has not yet been organised, but we
   hope it will. We have no person available to organise it. So either
   pretend that there is an organiser and arrange your trip, or be the
   organiser.  In the latter case, our veteran demo organiser will
   help you find your way. Reply to me if you can do it.

3) Contact companies and get them to sign economic-majority.com. Help
   them prepare testimonies. For more detailed instructions and
   support, ask em-testimony at ffii.org.  Also tell companies to come
   to Brussels to talk to their MEPs.


Metadata
--------
This document is hereby placed in the public domain by its author.

============8<----------------------------



-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan,
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/                             http://fsfe.org
            Support FSFE's work against software patents by becomming a Fellow