At the EuroParl's vote on software patents this week, the pro-software-patent Campaign for Creativity chartered a boat with a banner promoting software patents and sailed it into the canal near the Parliament. They were best by anti-software-patent activists in canoes carrying flags reading PATENTS STIFLE CREATIVITY.
On Tuesday, the canal surrounding the European Parliament's Strasbourg
headquarters saw a mini-naval battle as a boat hired by the Campaign for
Creativity, a pro-directive lobby group, was attacked by opponents of the
legislation in canoes carrying banners reading "patents stifle creativity."Austria's [MEP Eva] Lichtenberger said some of the lobbying violated
Parliament's rules, and noted, for example, that the Campaign for
Creativity failed to disclose the source of its funding.
(Thanks, Rishab!)