Call for 24 September "World Day Against Software Patents"

You want to get your software association, software company, software consultancy, software project involved in the 24 September World Day Against Software Patents and are able to speak in the name of your organisation? Please give us your contact data below. Your organisation gets the opportunity to be listed as a supporter for the announcement of the World Day Against Software Patents. Deadline to endorse this call is Monday 1st September @ 20:00 Paris hour.

Considering the following:

  1. The issue of software patents is a global one, and several governments and patent offices around the world continue to grant software & business method patents on a daily basis; they are pushing for legal codification of the practice, such as currently in New Zealand and India, and via the misappropriation of Free Trade Agreement instruments;
  2. Previous initiatives as the Noepatents.org petition (approx. 400 000) at the EU level are outdated (notably on the issues of the central EU patent court) and not open for signatures anymore.
  3. Companies still view software patents as assets. They have yet to understand that software patents should also be considered liabilities, especially if they are in the hands of trolls.
  4. Time is on our side as litigation gets spread wide: Markets learn the hard way that you may not leave reform to patent professionals. Patent litigation is becoming wide spread in key markets such as the financial sector, and will be more wide spread in the software sector in the forthcoming years due to the number of applications pending;
  5. The United States needs a larger coalition of business and civil society against software patents
  • The lobby gap makes Congress and Senate, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and the Supreme Court susceptible to lobbying from patent industries, holders and patent professionals. American software developers have been intimidated by the patent establishment and should make themselves heard.
  • Companies affected by software patent litigation have been lobbying for reform, but their advocacy for "quality" and "lower damages" aims at symptoms rather than the roots of the problem.

For these reasons,

We declare the 24 September as the World Day Against Software Patents, in commemoration of the European Parliament First Reading in 2003 with amendments stopping the harmful patenting of software, guaranteeing that software programmers and businesses can safely benefit from the fruits of their work under copyright law.

A Global Petition will be launched which asks to stop software patents, with some localised versions of the petition for specific regions, such as New Zealand, India, United States and Europe. The public will be invited to comment on the draft between the 1st and the 23rd September.

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Signatories

  1. NightLabs GmbH
  2. OPENTIA, S.L.
  3. VIRTUA, S.L.
  4. Guinaree Solution Co., Ltd
  5. iMatix Corporation
  6. Dokuro, C.A.
  7. HeartSeed
  8. ArsAperta
  9. EstrategiasGnuLinux
  10. EliteSystems
  11. Ajo Paul
  12. DocVert
  13. LibroBlanco
  14. Nuxeo
  15. Gula
  16. PatentFrei
  17. Seinale
  18. Ensino Livre
  19. Monolabs Consulting
  20. ASSOFT
  21. Ange
  22. TintaDigital, STI
  23. Modazur
  24. Segundo Criativo
  25. CodeSyntax
  26. ANSOL
  27. Intraneia
  28. Barroso & Filho Lda
  29. Memória Persistente Lda
  30. Grupo Lehmberg
  31. SimpleOption
  32. Turtle Linux Labs
  33. Schoolforge
  34. Angulo Sólido
  35. NeoPT
  36. GlobalTek
  37. Swatantra
  38. Vyana
  39. Vrijschrift
  40. Debiminho
  41. Gonk
  42. Associação Portuguesa de Programadores Perl
  43. Centre for Internet and Society
  44. Axiros GmbH
  45. ESLE
  46. Ikusnet SLL
  47. ASOLIF
  48. Eslic
  49. Fotón Sistemas Inteligentes
  50. Jakinbidea Digitala
  51. Sharika Digitala
  52. Include Servicios Tic
  53. Andalibre
  54. APS College of Engineering
  55. AGASOL
  56. Igalia
  57. FSUG Bangalore
  58. Open Firms Consulting
  59. Iniciativa Espírito Livre
  60. FFII
  61. ServicePlanet
  62. Ange Optimization
  63. ieRed
  64. University of Baguio
  65. Linux Malaga
  66. FSF
  67. SJM Steffann Automatisering
  68. NaOnda
  69. Whatever SA
  70. Polytechnic Institute of Leiria
  71. EFIPlus
  72. APRIL
  73. Cateia Games
  74. Zertificon Solutions GmbH
  75. ChironFS
  76. Dxdydz
  77. NUMLOG