Software Patents, Copyright Laws, and Open Source Software April 7, 2006

The Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) gives advance notice of a special visit being made from Brussels by Ciarán O'Riordan of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) to give a talk about Free Software and threats such as Software Patents. In addition Gareth Bowker will give a short speech about Copyright Laws and Open Source Software. This event will be held on Friday 7th April 2006 from 6.30pm at the British Computer Society (BCS) Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA. To book a place at this event please email your details to [email protected]
Ciarán O'Riordan currently works full-time for the FSFE to "...build awareness about free software" and "...within the political system of the European Union to ensure that free software is not harmed by new legislation".

Ciarán believes "...everyone should should have the right to study, modify, and share the software that they use. These rights enable people to help themselves, and to cooperate with others".

For more information about Ciarán please visit his homepage at: http://ciaran.compsoc.com/

Gareth Bowker is the Managing Director of Diogel Limited, a Network Security company based in South Wales that provides secure Internet connections, secure networks, and Voice-over-IP systems for clients throughout Great Britain.

This meeting will be open to all and membership of the BCS is not required to attend. Refreshments and a buffet will be available during the evening.

For further information please contact Mark Elkins by email at [email protected] or phone 023 80 319560

Nearest Tube Stations are Covent Garden, Temple, Charing Cross, and Embankment. Nearest Main Line Railway Stations are Charing Cross and Waterloo.

Those interested in related topics to this event might like to browse through our discussions forum at http://ossg.bcs.org/forum/issues