Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
| Abbreviation | FFII |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1999, Germany |
| Type | non-profit organization |
| Legal status | Foundation |
| Purpose | Law, Freedom, Privacy |
| Headquarters | Munich, Germany |
| Leader | Benjamin Henrion |
|
Volunteers
|
over 1000 |
| Website | www.ffii.org |
The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a non-profit organisation based in Munich, Germany, 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 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 patents lobbies, not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world.
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 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 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 EuroLinux anti-software-patent petition, supported and promoted by FFII, was signed by more than 1,500 SMEs, many thousand software developers, tens of thousands of software users system administrators as well as a number of scientists, academics and economists for a total of 400,000 signatories.
...
Wikipedia