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Florian Mueller on software patents

Florian Mueller, since 2010 or 2011, works or has worked for Microsoft and Oracle, but he has also previously worked with anti-software-patent campaigns.

His writings are sometimes misleading, particularly since his 2010 comeback, but can still be worth reading if you know how to separate the facts from the spin. Since he is German, his writings about the German court rulings are particularly useful.

In 2004 and 2005, he was on the side lobbying against software patents, during the campaigns surrounding the proposed EU software patents directive. At that time, some of his actions and policies drew heavy criticism from within the anti-software-patent campaigns.

Anti-swpat campaigning

He built the well-known campaign site NoSoftwarePatents.org (which he later handed to FFII) and his anti-swpat lobbying work earned him various awards.[reference needed]


After the directive was cancelled, Mueller published his account of the overall campaign in the book No Lobbyists As Such.

2010 return with Microsoft and Oracle

In 2010, Mueller returned with a blog, "FOSS Patents", discussing software patents and other topics.

In October 2011, Mueller annouced that he'd accepted a one-year contrat to work for Microsoft doing a study about FRAND.[1]

In 2012 he acknowledged that he is also paid by Oracle.

Mueller posts regularly (username FlorianMueller) to community forums such as Slashdot[2] and LWN.net.

External links

References