10.04.09
Microsoft Spreads Intellectual Monopoly Law in Europe and Arab States; EFF Takes on Acacia
Summary: The Community patent keeps marching, Jean-Philippe Courtois lobbies for the Lisbon Treaty, and Microsoft brings intellectual monopolies to The League of Arab States
THE FFII has been warning for well over a year now that unification was means for legalising software patents in Europe. Fingers were pointing at Commissioner McCreevy, who constantly brings up the Community patent [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Axel H. Horns has this update about the Community patent, which remains a big threat to Free software in this continent.
It should not be overlooked that the entire project of an enhanced patent system in Europe is currently set on hold because of the pending referral for the Unified Patent Litigation System to the ECJ.
One of the pivotal figures in Microsoft's lobbying for software patents in Europe is Jean-Philippe Courtois, who also personally participated in blocking migrations to GNU/Linux by dumping [1, 2, 3, 4]. “Linux is obviously a key competitor,” Courtois once wrote to his colleagues. Watch him now as he lobbies for the terrible Lisbon Treaty, which is about “innovation and competitiveness” (being code names for patents).
BUSINESS GROUPS: THE MICROSOFT executive who runs the software company’s business outside of the US and Canada is the latest high-profile business leader to come out in favour of passing the Lisbon Treaty.
Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International, said it was “very important” not just for Ireland but for Europe as a whole that the treaty is ratified.
“We have a shift of power between China, Brazil, the Indias of the world and the US,” said Mr Courtois. “Europe needs to step up both economically speaking and politically speaking. That treaty has to be clearly embodied and move on with all the citizens in Europe.”
The above article from the Irish Times ought to show why Microsoft is the problem. It wasn’t long ago that we wrote about what Microsoft does in Ireland [1, 2], including the creation of "Microsoft IP Ventures" over there (not to be confused with Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures [1, 2]). Microsoft is now doing to The League of Arab States something quite similar:
The League of Arab States, Microsoft Corp. and Khasawneh & Associates (a member of KSLG) today announced the launch of the Arab Intellectual Property Centre, an online portal which will provide a central hub for best practice sharing and legal resources on intellectual property in the Arab region.
Shortly after Microsoft got caught marketing anti-GNU/Linux patents to patent trolls [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] we find that the EFF gets its way against Acacia.
Ten claims from the Acacia Research Streaming Media Patent have been invalidated by the U.S.District Court for the Northern District of California. The Court invalidated the remaining claims that had been asserted in the litigation, after several others had been dropped from the suit by Acacia. EFF was not involved in the case, which was brought by Acacia against leading satellite and cable companies, Echostar, DirectTV, Time Warner Cable and CSC Holdings, Inc. Similar claims in related patents will also be invalid under the Court’s analysis.
As a reminder, Acacia is patent troll that sued GNU/Linux vendors shortly after adding Microsoft seniors to its staff. That’s why we follow people’s actions and professional history so closely. █
