[Discussioni] [Fwd: [Patents] German Sister Channel of MTV Declares War At Software Patents]

[Stefano Maffulli]

Interessante.

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Florian Mueller <florian a mysql.com>
To: patents a aful.org
Subject: [Patents] German Sister Channel of MTV Declares War At Software Patents
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:17:47 +0100

http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=295

GERMAN SISTER CHANNEL OF MTV
THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET
TO SOFTWARE PATENTS

Music channel VIVA was recently acquired by VIACOM, the owner of MTV --
Release of VIVA's modular PHP framework under open-source license "must be
understood as an absolute challenge against software patents"

Munich (15 January 2005). The German sister channel of MTV, a music TV
station by the name of VIVA, has joined the ranks of software patent critics
in the European Union. VIVA made "KONG42" (Kernel of Nice Gizmos), a modular
framework of code for dynamic Web applications written in the PHP
programming language, available to the public under the open-source license
BSD. That gesture was positioned as a declaration of war at software patents
in the EU's ongoing legislative process on a software patent directive.

Tobias Trotte, VIVA's interactive content director, said in an official VIVA
press release: "For a long time we have been relying upon established
open-source software. After a long period of taking, we give something back
to the OSS community: KONG42. At the same time our release must be
understood as an absolute challenge against software patents."

Florian Mueller, manager of the pan-European NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign,
commented on VIVA's announcement: "I applaud VIVA's decision and the
declaration against software patents. True innovators such as VIVA don't
want software patents because on the bottom line they create a lot more
problems than they solve. VIVA's announcement also shows how businesses in a
wide variety of industries are concerned about software patents, while it's
only a handful of large corporations that want to impose an American-style
software patent regime on all of Europe."

The European Parliament is presently looking at the possibility of
restarting the entire legislative process on software patents. The EU
Council reached a political agreement on a proposal that would effectively
legalize software patents in the EU but has so far been unable to turn that
political agreement into a formal decision, thanks to widespread resistance
in many European countries. 

Background Information on VIVA and its KONG42 Software

VIVA uses the KONG42 code as the core base for all of its cross-media
applications in the areas of interactive TV, Internet, and mobile
applications. It is used for the online community tools on www.viva.tv and
www.vivaplus.tv as well as in the operation of its popular "Get the Clip" Tv
show and the world's first on-air 3D game controlled via SMS (short message
service) messages.

VIVA started broadcasting on 1 December 1993. In July of 2000, its holding
company went public on the German stock exchange, and included in the "Prime
Standard" and SDAX indices in 2003. Last year, Viacom Inc., the owner of
MTV, acquired more than 97% of VIVA's shares. VIVA and MTV plan to
reposition their German channels this year to give "each brand a more
distinct and individual profile".

More information on VIVA and its acquisition by Viacom can be found at the
following Web addresses:
http://www.vivamediaag.com/mediaag/en/company/history/
http://www.viacom.com/press.tin?ixPressRelease=80404184
http://www.mtv-viva.com/english/press_release_channels.htm
http://www.mtv-viva.com/english/press_release_management.htm

VIVA's original press release is attached further below, following the
contact information of the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign.

About the NoSoftwarePatents.com Campaign

The NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign was launched on October 20th and is
supported by three IT companies (1&1, Red Hat, and MySQL AB). The views
expressed by the campaign are those of the campaign manager and not
necessarily those of the aforementioned companies.

Through Web content in 17 languages, the campaign addresses a pan-European
audience. More information on the campaign is available on its Website.

Contact Information

For further information concerning this announcement or the
NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, please contact:

Florian Mueller
Campaign Manager, NoSoftwarePatents.com
telephone +49 (8151) 651850
press a nosoftwarepatents.com 

This press release is also available on the Web at:
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=295


--> Original VIVA Press Release <--

Intelligent PHP5 based Framework for everyone

Cologne, 14th January 2005 VIVA PLUS, the leading pure-music TV broadcast
station in Germany, announced the release of KONG42 to the
Open-Source-Community under the BSD style license. KONG42 (Kernel Of Nice
Gizmos) is a modular and event-driven framework based on PHP5 and in style
of the MVC Model. KONG42 enables the development of large applications in
best time.

VIVA is using KONG42 as the core base for all cross-media applications in
the areas TV, internet and mobile. KONG42 manages the complex online and
on-air features (e.g. the VIVA Community tools used on www.viva.tv and
www.vivaplus.tv) and cares about the smooth operation of the TV shows Get
the Clip or the worldwide first on-air 3D-Game controlled via Short
Messages (SMS).

Tobias Trosse, Director Program & Production at VIVA PLUS and responsible
for interactive content at VIVA and VIVAPLUS: Since a long time we rely on
established Open-Source-Software. After a long period of taking, we give
something back to the OS-Community: KONG42. At the same time our release
must be understood as an absolute challenge against software patents.

VIVA PLUS was refined in October 2002 to the first interactive music TV
broadcaster with coverage of 29 million households in Germany. VIVA PLUS
offers the viewer the possibility  according to the VIVA PLUS-Claim YOU
DECIDE  to interactively design the program via internet and SMS.

KONG42  available at http://kong42.org/

Press:
VIVA Fernsehen GmbH 
Schanzenstr. 22 
D-51063 Köln
www.viva.tv
www.vivaplus.tv	VIVA Fernsehen GmbH

Public & Press Relations
Kristina Frinke
Tel: +49 (221) 6509-4070
E-Mail: kfrinke a viva.tv