Hartmut Pilch

Last updated
Hartmut Pilch
Born (1963-07-07) 7 July 1963 (age 60)
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)Activist, software developer, translator
Organisation Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure

Hartmut Pilch (born 7 July 1963) is a German digital rights and far-right political activist, who works as a software developer and translator. He is notable for establishing the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) in 1999. He was among the original leaders of the local Pegida movement in Munich in 2015–2016.

Contents

Activities

Digital rights activism

He took the lead in launching the FFII in Munich in February 1999, in response to the joint efforts of the European Commission and the European Patent Office (EPO) to liberalise patent law and facilitate software patenting in the European Union (EU). Prior to that he worked for the EPO in Munich. [1]

In June 1999, acting on behalf of FFII, he co-founded the Eurolinux Alliance with Jean-Paul Smets of the Association francophone des utilisateurs de logiciels libres (AFUL). [2] FFII then became a member organisation of the Eurolinux Alliance. [3]

As president of the FFII, an organization that promotes software patent reform and digital freedom of speech, he oversaw an intense lobbying period aimed at EU agencies between 2000 and 2005. [4] In late 2000, Eurolinux mobilised a collective response to the EU consultation on proposed changes to patent law. [5]

In 2000, he led a campaign aimed to prevent the removal of the exclusion of computer programs as such from patenting in Art. 52(2) of the European Patent Convention. In 2003, he led again a campaign against the patentability of software in Europe. [4] On 4 April 2003, he and Alexandre Dulaunoy of the Association Electronique Libre submitted a petition against software patenting with 140,000 signatures to the European Parliament (EP). [6] Along with the support of an extensive grassroots network, he lobbied and convinced the EP members to amend a directive proposal on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions (initially written by the European Commission). [4] He built an extensive network of individual contacts also outside the FFII, and had a direct connection to the Greens–European Free Alliance Group, the European People's Party – European Democrats (EPP-ED) Group and the Party of European Socialists in the EP. [7] He also voiced strong opposition to EPO practices regarding software patents. [4]

In November 2005, at the General Assembly of the FFII e. V., Pilch stepped aside as president of the FFII, and Pieter Hintjens, CEO of iMatix, was elected as his successor. Pilch continued on the board of FFII as its vice-president and then (as of 2013) treasurer.

Pegida activism

Hartmut Pilch together with the Pegida Munich board member Birgit Weissmann on a Pegida Munich rally. Hartmut Pilch.jpeg
Hartmut Pilch together with the Pegida Munich board member Birgit Weißmann on a Pegida Munich rally.

In 2014 or 2015, he was involved in organising Pegida in Munich together with Heinz Meyer, who became its leader, and Stefan Werner. [8] He took up a role as the movement's spokesperson and "leading intellectual". [8] [9] He addressed several Pegida rallies in Munich, including one on 7 September 2015 alongside Tatjana Festerling, where he criticised "Juncker’s and Merkel’s human rights dogmatism" and argued that the 2015 European migrant crisis was beyond Europe's responsibility. [10]

In May 2016, he and Werner were expelled by Meyer from Pegida's steering committee in Munich for organising a local twenty-strong solidarity demonstration in support of Alternative for Germany, which Meyer branded "superfluous", and the Bavarian website of Pegida was taken over by the Dresden headquarters of the party. [8] [11] At that time, his other close associate in Pegida's Bavarian structures was Susanne Helfenbein of the Freedom Party of Austria. [11]

Work

He is a former employee of SuSE.

Pilch's work as a translator focuses primarily on Chinese and Japanese. [12] He is also a student of Lojban, a constructed language, and has worked as an interpreter. [4]

Personal life

He is married to Wang Tao, they have three children. [13] He resided in Munich as of 2006. [4]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitary patent</span> Potential EU patent law

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A software patent is a patent on a piece of software, such as a computer program, libraries, user interface, or algorithm.

The patentability of software, computer programs and computer-implemented inventions under the European Patent Convention (EPC) is the extent to which subject matter in these fields is patentable under the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of October 5, 1973. The subject also includes the question of whether European patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in these fields (sometimes called "software patents") are regarded as valid by national courts.

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EuroLinux is a campaigning organisation that promotes open source software / free software in Europe, and that are opposed to the European Union's proposals to introduce laws on software patents. It is also known as EuroLinux Alliance. It is not an umbrella organisation for Linux User Groups in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions</span>

The Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions, procedure number 2002/0047 (COD) was a proposal for a European Union (EU) directive aiming to harmonise national patent laws and practices concerning the granting of patents for computer-implemented inventions, provided they meet certain criteria. The European Patent Office describes a computer-implemented invention (CII) as "one which involves the use of a computer, computer network or other programmable apparatus, where one or more features are realised wholly or partly by means of a computer program".

The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a non-profit organisation based in Munich, Germany, dedicated to establishing a free market in information technology, by the removal of barriers to competition. The FFII played a key organisational role and was very active in the campaign which resulted in the rejection of the EU software patent directive in July 2005.

The European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention (EPC) of 1973. The European Patent Organisation has its seat at Munich, Germany, and has administrative and financial autonomy. The organisation is independent from the European Union, and has as member states all 27 EU member states along with 12 other European states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Patent Convention</span> International patent treaty

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European patent law covers a range of legislations including national patent laws, the Strasbourg Convention of 1963, the European Patent Convention of 1973, and a number of European Union directives and regulations. For some states in Eastern Europe, the Eurasian Patent Convention applies.

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References

  1. ↑ Haunss 2013, p. 100–101.
  2. ↑ Haunss 2013, p. 101.
  3. ↑ FFII Associated with FSF Europe, Free Software Foundation Europe, 13 June 2002, retrieved 5 May 2024
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jacoby, Mary (2006-09-12). "How Hartmut Pilch, Avid Computer Geek, Bested Microsoft". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  5. ↑ Law, Gillian (2 July 2002), Patently ridiculous: What's Europe to do, IT World Canada , retrieved 5 May 2024
  6. ↑ Haunss 2013, p. 108.
  7. ↑ Haunss 2013, p. 122–125.
  8. 1 2 3 Bernstein, Martin (13 May 2016), "Pegida-Chef schmeißt zwei Mitstreiter raus", Süddeutsche Zeitung , retrieved 5 May 2024
  9. ↑ Witzgall, Thomas (11 November 2015), Münchner blockieren Pegida-„Spaziergang“ am 9. November, Endstation Rechts, retrieved 5 May 2024
  10. ↑ Pilch, Hartmut (12 September 2015), Munich Monday Demo for the Dublin System, against Asylum Bigotry, Hartmut Pilch (personal website), retrieved 5 May 2024
  11. 1 2 München Nazifrei (13 May 2016), Un-fass-bar pein-lich, Facebook , retrieved 5 May 2024
  12. ↑ "A2E Language Services".
  13. ↑ Pilch, Hartmut (28 June 2017), Periodic Reflexions and Sorted Experiences, Hartmut Pilch (personal website), retrieved 5 May 2024

Bibliography

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