MySQL & Others Renew Push Against Euro SW Patents

EUROPEAN MID-SIZED COMPANIES DON'T GIVE UP THE FIGHT AGAINST SOFTWARE PATENTS

Brussels (27 June 2005) -- Last week, the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee narrowly voted in favor of software patents, but for some, the fight has only just begun. Today a group of mid-sized European IT companies announced a joint effort directed at the parliament's second reading plenary vote, which is scheduled for Wednesday of next week (6 July). 1&1 Internet, CAS Software, CSB-System, GMX, Materna, MySQL and Opera collectively employ more than 4,000 people, and are seriously concerned over the negative implications that the present proposal would have to their businesses and to Europe's economy as a whole. Two of them are Internet companies, four are vendors of proprietary ("closed-source") software, and one is Europe's largest open-source software developer.

This effort is supported by venture investment group Benchmark Capital and Danny Rimer, a partner at Index Ventures.

Florian Mueller, who used to be Europe's most prominent campaigner against software patents for some time, has returned to Brussels in order to deliver the group's message to politicians and to select media. In 2004, Mr. Mueller founded the aggressive NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, which is now run by non-profit organization FFII. "In the face of the threat to all of us", Mr. Mueller says that he has accepted once again to interrupt his own computer game project and to work against software patents. "All we need now is for the parliament to pass some amendments so that the legislative process doesn't end like this in a few months' time", the campaigner explained. "We've got to get into extra time, like Liverpool FC in this year's Champions League final. It won't be easy but it can be done."

At this stage, he rests his hopes on the parliament: "There are some politicians who have put the interests of big international corporations above the principles of their own parties, and there is a lot of dishonesty in this debate, but I am convinced that most MEPs are responsible and ready to help. They did it in the first reading in 2003. They can do it again."

In a joint statement, the newly formed alliance calls on other companies "to take serious action between now and the vote on 6 July to get our message across to MEPs". The group stresses that "it would be unrealistic to believe that everyone understands the issue of software patents. We all have to spend time and money on lobbying or otherwise we'll lose without a fight, and in that case, we'll all be forced to spend much more time and money on dealing with individual patent assertions."

Background Information on Mr. Mueller

Florian Mueller has 20 years of industry expertise. In 1986, at age 16, he was Germany's youngest computer book author. For about ten years, he specialized on trans-Atlantic software publishing and distribution partnerships. In 1996, he founded an online service company that he sold to a major telecommunications firm in early 2000. He previously interrupted the development of his own computer game in order to campaign against software patents, and has now decided to return to the fray ahead of the European Parliament's second reading vote on the software patent directive.

Background Information on Companies

1&1 Internet AG (www.1und1.com) is Europe's No.1 web hosting and domain name registration company. 1&1 was established in 1992 and employs 1,650 people. It currently holds over 3.5 million British, German, French, Austrian and US customer contracts and serves 5 million domain names at its 28,000 server strong European Data Centres.

CAS Software AG (www.cas.de) is the leading German publisher of CRM (customer relationship management) software for mid-sized enterprises. The company employs 630 people (including affiliated companies) has repeatedly been honored for its innovative capacity, and most recently was ranked second on the "Top 100" list of Germany's most innovative mid-sized companies (June 2005).

CSB-System AG (www.csb-system.com) is one of the world's leading vendors of industry-specific ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. With its 470 employees, CSB specializes in innovative, complete IT solutions for optimal corporate management in the batch and process-oriented industries and the retail and logistics sector.

GMX GmbH (www.gmx.com) is Germany's pioneer and specialist in convenient and quick communication via the Internet. With 7.5 million active users per month ("internet facts", September of 2004), GMX (Global Message Exchange) is one of Germany's most important Internet services.

The MATERNA group (www.materna.de) is among the leading independent software companies in Germany's information and communication technology sector. MATERNA employs around 1,000 people and provides innovative solutions, products and services that are employed in business and public administration as comprehensive solutions or as solution modules.

MySQL AB's (www.mysql.com) flagship product is the world's most popular open source database, with more than six million active installations. Its founder Michael Widenius was awarded the ‘2003 Software Entrepreneur of the Year' prize in Finland, and in the same year, MySQL won the prestigious Swedish Guldmusen ("Golden Mouse") award for the Swedish IT Product of the Year.

Opera Software ASA (www.opera.com) develops the Opera Web browser, a high-quality, multi-platform product for a wide range of platforms, operating systems and embedded Internet products. Opera started out as a research project in Norway's largest telecom company, Telenor. The company is now independent, and its shares are publicly traded.

Contact Information

  Florian Mueller
  phone +49-171-2632226
  florian.mueller@tenanet.com