The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

based in

Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, dedicated to establishing a free market in information technology, by the removal of barriers to competition. The FFII played a key organisational role and was very active in the campaign which resulted in the rejection of the EU software patent directive in July 2005.

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

awarded the FFII the Outstanding contribution to software development award for this work, which was the result of years of research, policy, and action. After the July 2005 victory, FFII has continued to defend a free and competitive software market by working towards adequate patent systems and open standards. Currently the FFII fights against

software patent A software patent is a patent on a piece of software, such as a computer program, libraries, user interface, or algorithm. Background A patent is a set of exclusionary rights granted by a state to a patent holder for a limited period of time ...

s lobbies, not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world. It was founded as a German registered association under the name ''Förderverein für eine Freie Informationelle Infrastruktur (FFII) e.V.'' in 1999 by developer and far-right politics activist Hartmut Pilch.

Views

FFII's view is that software patents present a burden, not a benefit to society. It backs this position up citing extensive studies. FFII is a European

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

on this issue. Through its partnership with many other European organisations with the same goal, it has a reach across all nations of the EU. FFII has been active on this front since 2000 when, according to the FFII, an attempt to change the

European Patent Convention The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to ...

to legitimise software patents failed. In 2003, it strongly but indirectly lobbied the European Parliament against the proposed

Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions The Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (Commission proposal COM(2002) 92), procedure number 2002/0047 (COD) was a proposal for a European Union (EU) di ...

. The

EuroLinux __NOTOC__ EuroLinux is a campaigning organisation that promotes open source software / free software in Europe, and that are opposed to the European Union's proposals to introduce laws on software patents. It is also known as EuroLinux Alliance. I ...

anti-software-patent petition, supported and promoted by FFII, was signed by more than 1,500

SMEs Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a superconducting coil which has been cryogenically cooled to a temperature below its superconducting critical ...

, many thousand

software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invo ...

s, tens of thousands of software users

system administrator A system administrator, or sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to en ...

s as well as a number of

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

s and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

s for a total of 400,000 signatories. Online-protest

FFII organises conferences about the topic, usually in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, such as the conference which took place on April 14, 2004 together with a demonstration of more than 400 people against software patents the one on November 9–10, 2004. In

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, FFII organised a demonstration of about 1,000 people against software patents. In 2005 FFII organised an ''online demo'' supported by 1,200 web sites.

Structure

The FFII was funded originally by donations from

SuSE SUSE ( , ) is a German-based multinational open-source software company that develops and sells Linux products to business customers. Founded in 1992, it was the first company to market Linux for enterprise. It is the developer of SUSE Linux Ent ...

and Infomatec. The

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a st ...

has contributed regularly, as have

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become a ...

, and Stichting

NLnet The NLnet Foundation supports organizations and people that contribute to an open information society. It was influential in spreading the Internet throughout Europe in the 1980s. In 1997, the foundation sold off its commercial networking opera ...

. The historical list of donors from 1999 to 2005 can be found on the FFII web site. Partners in Europe include

EFFI Effi may refer to: * Efraim Effi Birnbaum (born 1954), Israeli basketball coach * Efraim Effi Eitam (born 1952), Israeli politician and retired brigadier-general * Efraim Effi Wizen (born 1956), Israeli computer animator and visual effects special ...

FSF Europe The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is an ''eingetragener Verein'' (registered voluntary association) under German law. It was founded in 2001 to support all aspects of the free software movement in Europe, with registered chapters in seve ...

, and SKOSI. The FFII exists as a mother organisation with more or less formal chapters in many countries. The national FFII chapters (such as FFII France) handle national membership, media and lobbying, while the mother organisation operates at the EU level and in countries where there is no formal FFII organisation. As of 14 December 2013, the FFII board consists of Benjamin Henrion (President), Rene Mages (Vice president), Stephan Uhlmann (Treasurer), André Rebentisch (Secretary), Hartmut Pilch.

Campaigns

Besides software patents, FFII promotes various campaigns aimed at disencumbering computing and software development. These include supporting author's rights and

Interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

enforcements, such as working to improve copyright regulation by providing technical analysis, amendments and voting recommendations that may influence the European Parliament.

References

External links

*
FFII's example web shop with 20 examples of software patents
* FFII

National sections

FFII Belgium

FFII French Chapter

FFII Polish section

FFII Spain

FFII Swedish Chapter

FFII UK Chapter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foundation For A Free Information Infrastructure Foundations based in Germany Patent law organizations Intellectual property activism Non-profit technology Non-profit organisations based in Bavaria

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...