Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) was the most influential group in the EU software patents directive from 1999 until the directive's rejection in 2005. Software patent activism in Europe greatly decreased after 2005 but FFII maintained certain activities including the EU unitary patent and Unified Patent Court.
ESOMA (The European Software Market Association) is a daughter organisation,[1] founded by FFII in 2007.[2]
Contents
EU software patents directive 1999-2005
FFII was by far the main organiser of the popular protest which lead to the European Parliament rejecting the EU Software Patents Directive. This work involved publishing analyses, organising conferences, organising public protests, and general campaign organisation.
FFII popularised The Patented Webshop.
FFII requested and are working on the re-examination of Amazon's gift ordering patent by the European Patent Office.Can you help? This needs a date. Is it still ongoing?
2005-2015
Activity steadily declined after July 2005, but never stopped. Notable actions on software patents during this period include:
- Campaigning against the EPLA.[3]
- Organised "EUPACO" conferences.[4]
- Submitting comments to the European Patent Office for the consultation EBoA referral G3-08.[5]
- Filing an amicus brief for the US Supreme Court case Bilski v. Kappos (2010, USA).[6]
Challenging the Unitary Patent in Belgium, 2015
ESOMA (a daughter organisation of FFII) has submitted a challenge to the Unitary Patent at Belgium's Constitutional Court.[7]
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Erik Josefsson on software patents
- The EuroLinux petition - FFII was a prominent member of this coalition
External links
- ffii.org - main FFII homepage
- FFII's letters (a selection)
- FFII has many sub-sites, some of which focus on software patents such as:
- http://www.economic-majority.com/
- http://eupat.ffii.org/
- FFII's analysis of ACTA
- http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/ - a petition by Ivan Villanueva of FFII (in the spirit of The EuroLinux petition)
- http://www.digitalmajority.org/ - news maintained by Benjamin Henrion
- How Software Patents Really Work (video, by FFII-UK)
Can you help? There is useful information about software patents on the following sites, but we need help to find the key pages:
General links by or about FFII
- A 2009 Bilski v. Kappos brief by FFII et al. (See: Bilski v. Kappos amicus briefs)
- YouTube video: How software patents work
- German original: List of news articles about FFII (English translations[?]: Google, bing translator)
- Slides from a presentation by Benjamin Henrion, June 2009
- German original: Interview with André Rebentisch, January 2010 (English translations[?]: Google, bing translator)
- (in German) Software-Patente. Nicht schon wieder!, May 2010, presentation by Peter Gerwinski
- FFII, Wikipedia
References
- ↑ "ESOMA: Declaration of support". http://www.esoma.org/esoma:support. "We support Esoma and its parent organisation, the FFII."
- ↑ "About Esoma". http://www.esoma.org/esoma:about. "Founded in January 2007 by the FFII"
- ↑ http://epla.ffii.org/
- ↑ http://www.eupaco.org/
- ↑ "Software patents plot buried under amicus avalanche". https://press.ffii.org/Press%20releases/Software%20patents%20plot%20buried%20under%20amicus%20avalanche.
- ↑ "FFII and IP Justice file Bilski Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court". http://press.ffii.org/Press%20releases/FFII%20and%20IP%20Justice%20file%20Bilski%20Amicus%20Brief%20to%20the%20Supreme%20Court.
- ↑ "Unitary Patent challenged at the Belgian Constitutional Court". http://www.esoma.org/forum/t-1162188/unitary-patent-challenged-at-the-belgian-constitutional-cour.
