http://www.ffii.org.uk Campaigning for open standards, competition and copyright. Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:18:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sound Copyright is a campaign operated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Open Rights Group (ORG). Copyright in sound recordings currently lasts for 50 years. An independent review (the "Gowers review") commissioned and endorsed by the UK government says it should remain at 50 years. Yet the ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/42 Following the Court of Appeal judgement in the Aerotel/Macrossan case of October 2006. the UK IPO (Intellectual Property Office, the body formerly known as The Patent Office) adopted a policy of flatly rejecting patent claims on computer programs. Australian "inventor" Neal Macrossan had sought to patent an automated system ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/41 Brussels, 4 May 2007 -- Over thirty renowned international speakers assemble on 15 and 16 May in Brussels' Metropole Hotel to discuss the future of the European Patent System. Among the topics being discussed are the recently published plans of the EU Commission for a new European patent system, and recent important decisions in ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/40 The press is reporting that the House of Lords have rejected Neal Macrossan's application to appeal against a ruling that his software "invention" was not patentable in the UK. The Register reports that: "In November last year, appeal court judges ruled that this was both a business method and a computer program ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/39 There are many positives from the Court of Appeal judgement which the FFII feels send a clear message to those who are seeking to harm innovation and free competition by extending patentability to computer programs and business methods In particular, the FFII is reassured by the following points of the ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/37 Brussels, 14 November 2006 -- FFII President Pieter Hintjens today announced the European Patent Conference (EUPACO), a series of events under the banner "Towards a New European Patent System". In a statement Hintjens said "the patent system, both globally, and in Europe, is under serious stress. The unrestricted expansion of patentability ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/35 The Court of Appeal's Judgement in Macrossan and Aerotel is now up at: The Court of Appeal upheld the rejection of Macrossan but **overturned** the rejection of Aerotel in the High Court. Rufus Pollock of FFII-UK said: "We're obviously delighted that the Court of Appeal upheld the rejection of Macrossan. ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/34 This Friday the UK Court of Appeal is expected to hand down its judgement in the cases of Macrossan's Application and Aerotel vs. Telco. These cases are of vital interest to anyone concerned with the ongoing debate over the patentability of software and business methods in the UK and Europe. ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/32 Harmut Pilch has a full summary of the EPLA situation but here are the key excerpts: Background The draft European Patent Litigation agreement of 2004 has accumulated strong momentum thanks to support from the European Patent Office (EPO), the patent departments of large companies (= "industry"), the patent officials of the national ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/30 Brussels, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Ljubljana, 4th July 2006 -- In an open letter to the EU Commission, six small business associations have called on Commissioners Verheugen and Reding to modify their plans for a task force, designed "to define the future EU policy in ICT". The proposed task force mainly consists of large IT ... http://www.ffii.org.uk/archives/29