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#title: Thomson and European Software Patents

#descr: Various subsidiaries of the US-based Thomson group have been active in
lobbying for software patentability in Europe.  Thomson's strategy is
largely based on acquiring patents and enforcing them, but Thomson
also has an R&D department of its own.  One of Thomson's first victims
in Europe was Tord Jansson, a developper of opensource audio streaming
software.  Thomson has shifted its MP3 licensing conditions from a
liberal to a more aggressive regime, so that some shareware
developpers were forced to take support for MP3 encoding and decoding
out of their software after having spent years on developping it.

#nen: Thomson Patents at the European Patent Office

#asc: Note that Thomson probably owns many more than these, because its
business model is (partially) based on acquiring and enforcing other
companies's patents.

#tWs: contains a statement from Tord Jansson, a prominent victim of
Thomson's patent policies.

#oWi: Thomson website

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