European Software Patent up the swanny

VERY INTERESTING POST ON BOING:



You have ONE WEEK to stop Euro software patents! ACT NOW!

Within a week, it's likely that the fate of European software patents will be sealed. That means that you have one week to mobilize every European you know to help stop disastrous, ridiculous American-style software patents from coming to Europe. FFII has a call to action that you can sign onto -- tell your friends, get the word out, time is running out.
# We urge the European Patent Office as well as national patent offices to immediately stop granting patents on business methods and data processing methods in whatever verbal clothing, and to apply Article 52 of the European Patent Convention correctly according to conventional methods of interpretation of law.
# We urge the members of the EU Council of Ministers to refrain from any counter-proposals to the European Parliament's version of the draft, unless such counter-proposals have been explicitely endorsed by a majority decision of the member's national parliament.

# We urge members of national parliaments to formulate clear national policies on the limits of patentability and to make sure that their government's representatives in the European Council are faithfully implementing these policies.

# We demand that all legislative proposals, including those from the European Parliament and the member states, be rigorously tested against a test suite of sample patent applications to see whether they would beyond any doubt lead to the desired results and would not leave room for any more misinterpretations

Do your bit, sign the petition, show your support:
http://www.ffii.org/ffii-cgi/aktiv?f=euparl&l=en