[:Persbericht_Boycot_Trend_Micro:NL]

Press Release ScriptumLibre, Februari 8, 2008

ScriptumLibre.org calls for boycott of Trend Micro

WORKUM, The Netherlands -- Friday, February 8, 2008 -- The ScriptumLibre.org Foundation today has issued a call for a worldwide boycott on Trend Micro products. The call comes as a response after the public anouncement on January 29th that a lawsuit was filed by Trend Micro in November 2007, which claims that software-security company Barracuda Networks is infringing its U.S.-patent on software that filters out viruses on Internet gateway computers. The claim targets the free and open source (FOSS) software program, Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV), and demands that Barracuda either cease distributing it with their Web filtering hardware and other products, or pay Trend Micro a licensing fee.

Software vendors that hold software patents tend to maintain a "cold war" amongst each other, collecting patents, and holding on to them for defensive purposes. Rarely are suits filed against one another aggressively. ScriptumLibre's chairman Wiebe van der Worp finds Trend Micro's aggressive use of litigation to be "well beyond the borders of decency," and points to the company's past history of, "extorting organizations such as Symantec and McAfee with similar threats of litigation." However, there are deeper concerns echoed by van der Worp, and others, in the threats this lawsuit holds toward others in the FOSS community. Recognizing this threat, Barracuda CEO, Dean Drako, in a statement to the FOSS community, writes, "Trend Micro’s actions illustrate that ClamAV and other open source projects remain vulnerable to commercial patent holders attempting to unjustly hinder the free and open source community."

As a result, many in the community are banding together, and offering support towards Barracuda, such as Eben Moglen of the Software Freedom Law Center, who has stated that the "Collective defense from software patents is a shared responsibility for everyone in the free software ecosystem." ScriptumLibre feels that the patent system is fundamentally broken. But just because the system is broken, does not mean that companies should be absolved for abusing that system. The foundation therefore urges the entire IT community, including both the proprietary and FOSS communities, to boycott Trend Micro products.

About ScriptumLibre

ScriptumLibre.org Foundation is the international branch of the Dutch "Stichting Vrijschrift.org". ScriptumLibre creates awareness about the economic and social meaning of free knowledge and culture for our society. The foundation was involved in the successful campaign to keep software patents out of the European Union.

Links and Attachments

• Boycott web page with information, banners and cartoons: http://www.scriptumlibre.org/Boycott_Trend_Micro

• Barracuda Networks call for help: http://www.barracudanetworks.com/ns/legal/

• Cartoon as line art in pdf-format

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Contact

Wiebe van der Worp, chairman ScriptumLibre, wiebe at vrijschrift.org tel.: +31 6 455 939 82

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