●● IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: Sunday, November 29, 2020 ●● ● Nov 29 [08:30] schestowitz https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/11/27/1654250 [08:30] schestowitz " [08:30] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-soylentnews.org | FFII Calls for Donations Against Unitary Software Patent Trolls After a Disastrous Bundestag Vote - SoylentNews [08:30] schestowitz The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure has a call for donations against the Unitary Software Patent Trolls after Thursday's disastrous Bundestag vote. On Thursday in Germany, the Bundestag voted on ratification of a proposal for a Unified Patent Court, largely seen as purely a vehicle for introducing software patents into Europe. As software patents in the US were on the way out, introducing them into Europe would [08:30] schestowitz bring them back into the US after further "harmonization". Thursday's vote is the result of the software patent lobby changing its strategy in Europe by creating a central patent court outside of the control of the individual member states under which it would make its own rules and avoid democratically elected legislators. [08:30] schestowitz FFII is now calling on its supporting companies and on the open source community to donate to crowdfund a Constitutional Complaint in Karlsruhe. Stopping the UPC in Germany will be enough to kill the UPC for the whole Europe. Politicians willfully ignored the problem that the UPC violates the Rule of Law principle, as the EPO still cannot be sued for maladministration, where there are 4 pending complaints in Karlsruhe, which [08:30] schestowitz should be issued in early 2021. [08:30] schestowitz Next steps are a vote in the Bundesrat, according to Stjernas blogpost [08:30] schestowitz Legal Committee of the Federal Council is currently scheduled for 02/12/2020 [08:30] schestowitz Federal Council can therefore be expected to make its final deliberation on the draft legislation in its 998th session on 18/12/2020 [08:30] schestowitz Dr Stjerna blog, Status of the UPCA ratification proceedings in Germany (12/12/2016, latest update on 26/11/2020) https://www.stjerna.de/restart/?lang=en [08:30] schestowitz German government believe that they can ratify before the end of the year, as they consider the UK still a member of the EU till 31st December. The agenda of next votes have been designed on purpose to ratify the UPC before the end of the year. [08:30] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-www.stjerna.de | Dr. Ingve Bjrn Stjerna, LL.M. | Status of the UPCA ratification proceedings in Germany (12/12/2016, latest update on 26/11/2020) [08:30] schestowitz This plot twist is time-dependent and hangs upon a loophole in Brexit. Thus the time between now and New Year are crucial for preserving the ability to use or develop software in Europe. Again, this is about the uses to which software may be applied, not distribution. Usage is covered by patent law, distribution by copyright law. [08:30] schestowitz The FFII is a pan-European alliance of software companies and independent software developers. It is currently working to neutralize the Unitary Patent project, which is a third attempt to introduce software patents into Europe. The previous two attempts failed, but only because of the joint efforts of thousands of companies to defend against software patents in Europe. [08:30] schestowitz " ● Nov 29 [10:04] schestowitz scandal" [10:04] schestowitz Thank you for keeping us in the loop on your Phase II feedback [10:04] schestowitz Your e-mails have helped us tremendously in preparing for the discussions with senior management on the 17 measures [10:04] schestowitz Dear colleagues, [10:04] schestowitz Upon the Presidents instruction the Team managers involved all of us in the Phase II Team feedback exercise. There was a very clear message given to the President, namely to involve the elected representatives of staff in the discussions of the measures proposed after the Financial Study. Far fewer staff members succumbed to selecting the most favoured, or rather the least feared, measures in view of the Financial Study lacking [10:04] schestowitz credibility. [10:04] schestowitz Find a brief summary of your feedback that has reached us here and watch this space for our report on the first discussions on 20 November 2019 between senior management and staff representatives. [10:04] schestowitz Your Central Staff Committee [10:04] schestowitz Author CSC [10:04] schestowitz " ● Nov 29 [11:15] schestowitz " [11:15] schestowitz Reply to the invitation for discussions with management [11:15] schestowitz Dear colleagues, [11:15] schestowitz The President invited us in an open letter dated 4 November 2019 to participate in discussions on the financial study and the consequent measures proposed unilaterally by management. We regret that, until now, Staff Representation has been entirely absent from discussions in both the first and the second phase of the financial study. Despite these failures to meaningfully involve us so far, we are now ready to enter into [11:15] schestowitz discussions with an open mind. We are convinced that it should be possible to work together to define and agree the best measures to be implemented for the benefit of all staff, the EPO and the European society at large. [11:15] schestowitz You will find our letter of reply to the President and the nomination of our team here. [11:15] schestowitz Your Central Staff Committee [11:15] schestowitz " [11:16] schestowitz " [11:16] schestowitz Gathering the views of staff on financial measures [11:16] schestowitz Dear colleagues, [11:16] schestowitz [11:16] schestowitz Mr Campinos has decided once more to bypass staff representation. He is asking Team Managers to gather systematically the views of those in their team(s) on measures one to ten in the Financial Study, i.e. on those measures exclusively directed at reducing your benefits and/or career prospects. [11:16] schestowitz [11:16] schestowitz Our recommendation: [11:16] schestowitz - Assuming that you trust that your feedback will be faithfully transmitted by your line management, taken into account and not used against you, there is no hurry to reply. [11:16] schestowitz - If you want to make sure that the CSC faithfully represents your feedback during their upcoming meetings with Senior Management, please copy it to centralstcom@epo.org. [11:16] schestowitz - If you think that there is no financial gap, then feel free to say so. [11:16] schestowitz - If you think that there might be a gap, dont forget that measures 11 to 16 also exist. If you have ideas for other measures that have not been considered so far, do not hesitate to share these with your line management and with us too. [11:16] schestowitz [11:16] schestowitz You will find some food for thought in this short paper. [11:16] schestowitz [11:16] schestowitz The Central Staff Committee [11:16] schestowitz " [11:18] schestowitz " [11:18] schestowitz [CSC] SR view on Interview on Financial Study [11:18] schestowitz SR diverging views on answers the President and VP4 gave to questions posed [11:18] schestowitz Dear colleagues, [11:18] schestowitz [11:18] schestowitz On 22 October 2019 the President and VP4 invited four Team Managers to discuss the Financial Study with them. We congratulate our colleagues on stepping forward on this occasion, as they are usually more concerned with managerial tasks than details of Office finances and funding strategies. Having attentively watched and listened, we would like to add some comments and diverging views on some of the questions posed and the answers [11:18] schestowitz the President and VP4 gave. [11:18] schestowitz Do we have a financial problem? [11:18] schestowitz Why the extra EUR 2 billion? [11:18] schestowitz ... [11:18] schestowitz [11:18] schestowitz The diverging views in full can be found here. [11:18] schestowitz [11:18] schestowitz We will keep you posted on the developments. [11:18] schestowitz [11:18] schestowitz Your Central Staff Committee [11:18] schestowitz " [11:19] schestowitz " [11:19] schestowitz Pensioners Association on 17 Measures [11:19] schestowitz Letter to the BFC questioning the alleged financial gap and 17 measures [11:19] schestowitz Dear colleagues, [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz The Pensioners Association has similar to the Staff Representation addressed their concerns on the financial study, the overestimated gap and the necessity of the 17 measures and request to revisit the financial study to establish more realistic calculations before any measures are proposed to the Council for decision. Their request matches the request of staff stemming from the recent Historic General Assemblies of more than 2000 [11:19] schestowitz staff. [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz The letter of the Pensioners Association in full can be found here. [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz We will keep you posted on the developments. [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz Your Central Staff Committee [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz [11:19] schestowitz Author: CSC [11:19] schestowitz ex19151cl (pdf) published 29/10/20 [11:20] schestowitz " ● Nov 29 [12:01] *rianne__ has quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [12:01] *rianne__ (~rianne@host81-154-173-112.range81-154.btcentralplus.com) has joined #boycottnovell [12:01] *rianne__ has quit (Client Quit) [12:02] *rianne__ (~rianne@host81-154-173-112.range81-154.btcentralplus.com) has joined #boycottnovell ● Nov 29 [16:34] schestowitz https://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-fate-of-uk-spcs-in-brexit-era.html?showComment=1606320563788 [16:34] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-ipkitten.blogspot.com | The fate of UK SPCs in the Brexit era - The IPKat [16:34] schestowitz "After the end of the transition period, is it really clear that an applicant will be able to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation that is truly UK-wide and will cover Norther Ireland? In order to have effect in Northern Ireland, any MA will need to comply with the EU acquis." [16:34] schestowitz did not realise that #IPKat had malicious surveillance added to all pages (not just Google's) until an SSL/TLS cert expired, triggering errors ● Nov 29 [17:56] schestowitz https://twitter.com/Quantum_Quench/status/1333102087635406960 [17:56] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-@Quantum_Quench: @schestowitz New argument #1 According to the 'duck test', our patent system is now just a very expensive & 'illeg https://t.co/eAd7pzEYnu [17:56] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-@Quantum_Quench: @schestowitz New argument #1 According to the 'duck test', our patent system is now just a very expensive & 'illeg https://t.co/eAd7pzEYnu [17:56] schestowitz " [17:56] schestowitz New argument #1 [17:56] schestowitz According to the 'duck test', our patent system is now just a very expensive & 'illegal' (in all 50 states) LOTTERY - not the GAME OF SKILL & KNOWLEDGE it used to be 100-200 years ago! Winners & losers are NOT BASED on any consistent & objective decision making! [17:56] schestowitz " [17:57] schestowitz https://twitter.com/zoobab/status/1333003063670558720 [17:57] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-@zoobab: @schestowitz not markdown? [17:57] schestowitz you want markdown? I can make a version for that too [17:58] schestowitz https://twitter.com/Quantum_Quench/status/1333107917474721792 [17:58] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-@Quantum_Quench: @schestowitz Winners & losers in the 'patent game' depend ALMOST ENTIRELY on what kind of Examiner they get & wheth https://t.co/rbeff5Ku2B [17:58] -TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-@Quantum_Quench: @schestowitz Winners & losers in the 'patent game' depend ALMOST ENTIRELY on what kind of Examiner they get & wheth https://t.co/rbeff5Ku2B [17:58] schestowitz "Winners & losers in the 'patent game' depend ALMOST ENTIRELY on what kind of Examiner they get & whether they are 'hard' or 'easy' & whether they're primary examiners or rookies! Most small entities get rookies while larger 'repeat customers' of the PTO get better & EASIER ones!" ● Nov 29 [20:17] *oiaohm has quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer) [20:17] *oiaohm (~oiaohm@unaffiliated/oiaohm) has joined #boycottnovell [20:30] *ChanServ has quit (shutting down) [20:31] *ChanServ (ChanServ@services.) has joined #boycottnovell [20:31] *verne.freenode.net gives channel operator status to ChanServ