Hi Folks, Remember that petition to the House of Representatives we ran this time last year? It's been a big year and I've been meaning to tell you how things went. The new developments are near the bottom. I started typing up all 1000 email addresses on the petition, but quickly gave up as there were so many and people's writing was very hard to read. So for future updates on this issue, join the End Software Patents Australia mailing list (very low traffic). ESP mailing list: http://lists.endsoftwarepatents.org/mailman/listinfo/australia-public-discus... As you'll remember, over several months, we collected 1000 signatures on paper from members of the software industry. I want to publicly thank those who put in the leg work (think 1000 times several minutes for each squiggle on paper). Thankyou! The petition: http://www.sturm.com.au/resources/patents-petition.pdf In February this year, our petition was accepted by the Petitions Committee (one big batch of signatures, plus two small batches that came in late). These were presented to the House on 21 February, 28 February and 28 May respectively. Hansard 21 February: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id... Hansard 28 February: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id... Hansard 23 May: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id... The petition was referred to Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Senator Carr's response: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/petitions/petitions_43/innovation.htm The response acknowledges our petition and that much of the industry wasn't aware of the opportunity to comment (2009) in the ACIP (Advisory Council for Intellectual Property) review of patentable subject matter. The ACIP's report was released on 16 February. ACIP Review: http://www.acip.gov.au/reviews_completed.html#psm ACIP Report: http://www.acip.gov.au/library/ACIP%20PSM%20final%20report%204%20Feb%202011.... You'll remember that we missed the comment period in this review, but around August 2010, we quickly organised an online letter to Senator Carr and collected over 1000 names (thanks Slashdot!). Although the final report above didn't recommend excluding computation and information processing from patentable subject matter, we did at least get a mention (search the above PDF for "software"): A recent petition to the Minister signed by members of the computer software industry argued that patents are not necessary to encourage innovation in their industry, that the term of a patent (20 years) is too long, and that the cost involved (in avoiding infringing patents, and defending against patent lawsuits) is not viable, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. As far as I know, the government haven't yet responded to the ACIP report, though last week they did reference it in a response on Gene Patents. This Thursday I'll be representing you at a Senate Committee Hearing as the "principal petitioner". This is an opportunity for the committee to hear more (ie. beyond 250 words) about our concerns and to ask questions. If anyone is interested in watching, there is a small gallery. Email me for details. I'm told the audio will be available on the Parliamentary website and as text in Hansard. Sorry for such a long message. I felt I owed it to you all though to bring you up to date on the petition. I'll be talking more about the campaign at Linux Conf Australia on 19 January 2012. Regards, Ben PS. Although I'm mailing to two free software related lists, I should highlight that we represent the wider Australian software industry in this campaign, not just the free software movement.