From phm@xxx.xxx Thu Jun 10 11:25:39 1999
X-Digest-Num: 163
Message-ID: <44114.163.968.959273824@eGroups.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 20:25:39 +0200 (CEST)
From: PILCH Hartmut <phm@xxx.xxx
Subject: Re: lobbying for Lojban the European Patent Office

On Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Robin Turner wrote:

> Sounds good. The issue of algorithm patenting came up in a meeting here
> (Ankara) addressed by Richard Stallman. Some people at the Free Software
> Foundation are lobbying on this issue - maybe you're already in touch with
> them. AFAIK, algorithm patenting is already possible in the USA.

Sure. Currently there are two organisations calling for the founding
of the EuroLinux lobby group, the two behind the two servers

http://www.freepatents.org
http://swpat.ffii.org

We are in close contact with Richard Stallman, but Jean-Paul Smets, the
author of freepatents.org, is really the most competent lobbyist in
Europe. 

> As for your lobbying for Lojban, this is excellent. What Lojban needs
> most in the near future is to be put to practical uses by people who
> have other motivations for using Lojban than simply liking the language. 

Since Lojban itself was born out of an IP dispute and the reference parser
runs on Linux, you may feel very comfortable as a member of the EuroLinux
Alliance (http://www.eurolinux.org or, if not yet online,
http://eurolinux.ffii.org).

If anyone of you lives close to Cologne, Germany, please come to the

http://kongress.ffii.org	

(you must look at the carricature on the title page :-)
this sunday. Jean-Paul Smets will be giving a keynote speech on the plans
for EuroLinux. 

For purposes of participating, it would be optimal to state that the
Lojban organisation is based in a third EU country, apart from FR and DE.
Maybe FI ?

This would give us a higher status as a EU-lobbying NGO.

-phm