Dear Eurolinux Petition Supporter, Thank you for signing our Petition for a Software Patent Free Europe http://petition.eurolinux.org/ a while ago, and for allowing us to inform you about upcoming actions. We now need your participation again. The European Parliament is likely to ratify a Software Patent Directive,possibly with helpful amendments, in May. Detailed news are found at http://swpat.ffii.org/news/index.en.html Your participation can have a decisive influence. Here are a few things to do: Sign our Amendment Proposals by clicking http://petition.ffii.org/eubsa/en or, if you already have a user ID, by logging in at http://petition.ffii.org/ and then navigating through "Signing Appeals". Now you are logged into a system which makes it easy to select and contact Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Click My MEPs I would rather select an MEP myself [ selection criteria ] [ 1 MEP ] Directly phone your MEP, express your concern about the "Software Patent Directive Project", find out who in this MEP's office is studying the matter, how they think and whom they follow, and inform us by leaving a "Confidential Note". It is very important that MEPs hear *your* voice directly and not just the voices of a few "Eurolinux lobbyists". Write to the person with whom you just phoned. Consider backing up your letter by a page on your website. Keep it simple, but feel free to ask for our assistance in formulating. In any case, send us copies/pointers. The Green and Liberal Fractions of the European Parliament are calling on representatives of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to speak at a hearing on May 8th about the Software Patent Directive Project. There will also be a demonstration with theatre and speeches in front of the parliament building. Please consider speaking at the hearing, if you can speak for a company. Companies from Eastern Europe (future member countries) are also (and even particularly) welcome. If you are knowledgable about a particular aspect or area within software patents, you may want to speak at the scientific conference which surrounds the hearing. For an update on what kind of patents are to be legalised in Europe by the proposed directive, you may want to browse http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/txt/ep/ http://www.espacenet.com/ Information about the event schedule is being published at http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/05/ and you can register as a participant through the http://petition.ffii.org web forms. If you would like to speak at the event, please contact me directly. Donate for our lobbying expenses. We are spending at least 30,000 EUR on top of a lot of unpaid voluntary work, and we will not be able to pay all our bills unless you come forward with donations. The bank account for a donation is Country: DE (Germany) Bank Code 70150000 BIC (bank identifier code): SSKMDEMM SWIFT: SSKM DE MM Name of Bank: Stadtsparkasse Muenchen Bank's Postal Address: DE 80335 Muenchen / Lotstr 1 Account: 31112097 IBAN (international bank account number): DE78701500000031112097 Account Owner: FFII e.V., Account Owner's Postal Address: DE 80636 Muenchen / Blutenburgstr 17 Keyword: europarl FFII is acknowledged as a public-interest association and we will send you a receipt that at least in Germany makes the donation tax-deductible. It would be great if you could get started with at least one of the above items right now. For brevity, we are writing in English only this time, but we will try to answer your questions or replies in the language of your choice. Yours sincerely Mit freundlichen Gruessen Amicalement kore, adios, ciao, groeten, na schledanou, saygilar, geia xara ... Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance