Poland is not lost – could challenge ACTA at the ECJ

Brussels, 26 January 2012 — Today the European Union and member states signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Tokyo, Japan. Signing is a first step to enable later ratification of the controversial agreement. The United States already announced they would not ratify it and their legislature would not be bound by it. According to the FFII signing is only the very start of the actual debate in Europe. “Our representatives in the European Parliament still have to decide whether to consent.

EP legal service consistently overlooks known issues with ACTA

Today the FFII sent a letter to the European Parliament about the EP legal service’s opinion on ACTA. (pfd version)
Brussels, 23 January 2012 — The European Parliament’s legal service consistently overlooks known issues with the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), according to the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII). In the coming months the European Parliament will have to decide whether to give consent to ACTA or not. In preparation, the Parliament’s International Trade and Legal Affairs committees asked the Parliament’s legal service an opinion on ACTA. The FFII compared the legal service’s opinion with multiple academic opinions on ACTA and some civil society analyses.

Share your operating system bundling tales with the EU

Berlin / Paris, April 14th 2011 — FFII and AFUL ask consumers affected by operating system bundling or businesses involved in bundling to provide their evidence to the European Competition authority. “My choice is Debian GNU/Linux”, explains FFII Vice president Rene Mages. “Why have I been compelled to pay and erase Windows 7 at purchase time?” The European Commission admits it was aware of the difficulties encountered by consumers who want to purchase a PC with a non-Microsoft operating system or without any operating system at all. But they also say they lack evidence suggesting that this is the result of practices in violation of EU competition rules.

FFII objects to secret INTA committee meeting on ACTA

Brussels, 9 November 2011 — On 23 November the European Parliament Committee on International Trade will discuss ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) behind closed doors. In a letter to the Chairman of the committee, Mr Moreira, the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure objects to the meeting being held behind closed doors. Since the publication of the ACTA text, discussions on ACTA have to take place in public, according to the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure). On 23 November the INTA (International Trade) committee will discuss the confidential European Parliament legal service’s opinion on ACTA. The FFII wants the opinion published before the November 23th meeting.

FFII urges EP Civil Liberties Committee to formulate opinion on ACTA

Brussels, 14 October 2011 — In an open letter to the members of the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee, the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) urges them to formulate an opinion on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). ACTA is a multilateral agreement which proposes international standards for enforcement of intellectual property rights. According to the FFII, research has shown serious fundamental rights issues. A group of prominent European academics published an opinion on ACTA. They conclude that certain ACTA provisions are not entirely compatible with EU law and will directly or indirectly require additional action on the EU level.

FFII calls upon European Parliament to resolve uncertainties regarding ACTA

Brussels, 24 May 2011 — The European Parliament should decisively resolve uncertainties regarding ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), according to an open letter to the Members of the European Parliament by the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure). The FFII urges the Parliament to seek an opinion of the European Court of Justice on the compatibility of ACTA with the EU Treaties, and to commission independent assessments of the effects ACTA will have on access to medicine, diffusion of green technologies needed to fight climate change, fundamental rights, innovation, small and medium sized companies and a fair balance of interests. “We now know the devastating effects that IP (‘intellectual property’) enforcement may have on societies”, the FFII says in the letter. A few years after the European Community ratified the 1994 WTO TRIPS agreement, the AIDS epidemic took millions of lives in Africa. Protected by TRIPS, pharmaceutical companies sold AIDS medicine in Africa for prices higher than in the US.

Commissioner Malmström delays revocation of EU data retention directive

Brussels, April 18th – Today the European Commission adopted an evaluation report of the data retention directive. EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström presented the report at a Brussels press conference. “Cecilia Malmström artificially delays an overdue revocation of the data retention directive and only presents an evaluation report instead”, comments FFII network expert Stephan Uhlmann. Transposition of the directive has been uneven, controversial and the differences between the legislations adopted by Member States create irritations. Malmström admitted the directive does not guarantee that data is stored, retrieved and used in full compliance with the right to privacy and protection of personal data, and this has led courts to annul the legislation transposing the Directive in some Member States.

Document Freedom Day Award in Berlin, Germany

On the 30th of March, 2011, the FFII and FSFE awarded tagesschau.de the DFD Award for its use of Open Standards in broadcasting content. Berlin and Hamburg Fellows joined the event to celebrate the important role of tagesschau.de in spreading Document Freedom, eat a piece of pie, and have a chat about Freedom and Open Source Software and Open Document formats. Press review for the Berlin event:

2011-03-30 DE Heise: Tagesschau.de wegen Ogg-Theora-Unterstützung ausgezeichnet
2011-03-30 EN The H: Tagesschau.de receives Document Freedom Day award from FSFE and FFII
2011-03-30 DE Golem: FFII und FSFE ehren Tagesschau.de für Inhalte im Ogg-Theora-Format
2011-03-30 DE Readers Edition: Die Netzversion der Tagesschau ist “offen”
2011-03-30 DE Linux Community: Eine Torte für offene Formate FSFE und FFII zeichnen ARD für freie Formate bei Online-Tagesschau aus
2011-03-30 DE Linux Magazin: FFII und FSFE zeichnen ARD für Einsatz von Ogg aus
2011-03-30 DE Netzpolitik.org: Offene Standards: Singapur, München, Tagesschau und der Rest der Welt
2011-03-30 DE Prolinux: Auszeichnungen für den Einsatz offener Standards für Tagesschau.de und München

FFII recommends EU to remove barriers for startups

Berlin, March 31st 2011 — The FFII answered a consultation call from the European Commission General Directorate Internal Market on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. For the EU to help startup companies, the FFII advises to reduce market entrance risks for innovative companies. Most SME and startup companies that support FFII operate in digital markets. In digital markets innovators are often confronted with patent minefields. “You have to draw a clear distinction between counterfeiting and business conflicts over the scope of intellectual property rights.

Tagesschau.de awarded for the use of Open Standards

Berlin, 30. March 2011 – Today the ARD internet platform Tagesschau.de will receive an award for the use of Open Standards at the “Document Freedom Day”. The prize is awarded by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure e.V. (FFII) for offering the broadcasted shows also in the free video format “Ogg Theora”. In Berlin FSFE and FFII will hand over a certificate and a cake with the “rOgg On!” label on to Sven Bruns, technical manager at tagesschau.de.