# Hartmut Pilch > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hartmut_Pilch > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hartmut_Pilch.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmut_Pilch > Source revision: 1338255322 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|German software developer and activist}} {{Infobox person | name = Hartmut Pilch | image = | caption = | birth_name = | other_names = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1963|7|7}} | birth_place = | education = | occupation = Activist, software developer, translator | years_active = | organisation = [Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure](/source/Foundation_for_a_Free_Information_Infrastructure) | notable_works = }} '''Hartmut Pilch''' (born 7 July 1963) is a German [digital rights](/source/digital_rights) and [far-right](/source/Far-right_politics) political [activist](/source/Activism), who works as a [software developer](/source/software_developer) and [translator](/source/translator). He is notable for establishing the [Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure](/source/Foundation_for_a_Free_Information_Infrastructure) (FFII) in 1999. He was among the original leaders of the local [Pegida](/source/Pegida) movement in [Munich](/source/Munich) in 2015–2016. ==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](/source/European_Commission) and the [European Patent Office](/source/European_Patent_Office) (EPO) to [liberalise](/source/Liberalization) [patent law](/source/Patent_law_of_the_European_Union) and facilitate [software patenting](/source/Software_patent) in the [European Union](/source/European_Union) (EU). Prior to that he worked for the EPO in Munich.{{sfn|Haunss|2013|p=100–101}} In June 1999, acting on behalf of FFII, he co-founded the [Eurolinux Alliance](/source/Eurolinux_Alliance) with Jean-Paul Smets of the Association francophone des utilisateurs de logiciels libres (AFUL).{{sfn|Haunss|2013|p=101}} FFII then became a member organisation of the Eurolinux Alliance.{{r|FSFE}} 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](/source/European_Union) agencies between 2000 and 2005.{{r|WSJ}} In late 2000, Eurolinux mobilised a collective response to the EU consultation on proposed changes to patent law.{{r|GL}} 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](/source/European_Patent_Convention). In 2003, he led again a campaign against the [patentability of software](/source/Software_patent) in [Europe](/source/Europe).{{r|WSJ}} On 4 April 2003, he and Alexandre Dulaunoy of the [Association Electronique Libre](/source/Association_Electronique_Libre) submitted a petition against software patenting with 140,000 signatures to the [European Parliament](/source/European_Parliament) (EP).{{sfn|Haunss|2013|p=108}} Along with the support of an extensive grassroots network, he [lobbied](/source/Lobbying) and convinced the EP members to amend a [directive proposal on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions](/source/Directive_on_the_patentability_of_computer-implemented_inventions) (initially written by the [European Commission](/source/European_Commission)).{{r|WSJ}} He built an extensive network of individual contacts also outside the FFII, and had a direct connection to the [Greens–European Free Alliance](/source/Greens%E2%80%93European_Free_Alliance) Group, the [European People's Party – European Democrats (EPP-ED) Group](/source/European_People's_Party_Group) and the [Party of European Socialists](/source/Party_of_European_Socialists) in the EP.{{sfn|Haunss|2013|p=122–125}} He also voiced strong opposition to EPO practices regarding software patents.{{r|WSJ}} In November 2005, at the General Assembly of the FFII e. V., Pilch stepped aside as president of the FFII, and [Pieter Hintjens](/source/Pieter_Hintjens), [CEO](/source/Chief_executive_officer) of [iMatix](/source/iMatix), was elected as his successor. Pilch continued on the board of FFII as its vice-president and then (as of 2013) [treasurer](/source/treasurer). ===Pegida activism=== [[File:Hartmut Pilch.jpeg|thumb|Hartmut Pilch together with the [Pegida](/source/Pegida) Munich board member Birgit Weißmann on a [Pegida](/source/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.{{r|MB}} He took up a role as the movement's [spokesperson](/source/spokesperson) and "leading [intellectual](/source/intellectual)".{{r|MB|TW}} He addressed several Pegida [rallies](/source/Political_demonstration) in Munich, including one on 7 September 2015 alongside [Tatjana Festerling](/source/Tatjana_Festerling), where he criticised "[Juncker](/source/Jean-Claude_Juncker)’s and [Merkel](/source/Angela_Merkel)’s [human rights](/source/human_rights) dogmatism" and argued that the [2015 European migrant crisis](/source/2015_European_migrant_crisis) was beyond Europe's responsibility.{{r|HP}} 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](/source/Alternative_for_Germany), which Meyer branded "superfluous", and the Bavarian website of Pegida was taken over by the [Dresden](/source/Dresden) headquarters of the party.{{r|MB}}{{r|MN}} At that time, his other close associate in Pegida's Bavarian structures was Susanne Helfenbein of the [Freedom Party of Austria](/source/Freedom_Party_of_Austria).{{r|MN}} ==Work== He is a former employee of [SuSE](/source/SUSE_S.A.). Pilch's work as a translator focuses primarily on [Chinese](/source/Chinese_language) and [Japanese](/source/Japanese_language).{{cite web| url = http://a2e.de/oas/index.en.html| title = A2E Language Services}} He is also a student of [Lojban](/source/Lojban), a [constructed language](/source/constructed_language), and has worked as an [interpreter](/source/Interpreting).{{r|WSJ}} ==Personal life== He is married to Wang Tao, they have three children.{{r|HP0}} He resided in Munich as of 2006.{{r|WSJ}} ==Publications== * (with Jean-Paul Smets) "[http://www2.ati.es/novatica/2001/154/up2-6Smets.pdf Software Patentability with Compensatory Regulation: A Cost Evaluation]", ''Upgrade'' vol. 2 (2001), no. 6, p. 23–32 * "Why Are Software Patents So Trivial?", in ''Patents, Innovation and Economic Performance: OECD Conference Proceedings'', ed. Catalina Martinez, Jerry Sheehan and [Dominique Guellec](/source/Dominique_Guellec) (Paris: [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development](/source/OECD), 2004), pp. 289–94 {{ISBN|9789264015265}} * (with Georg Jakob) ''[https://ffii.fr/ladoc//PatentClaims20080918.pdf On the Grammar of Patent Claims]'', 2008 ==References== {{citation |title=FFII Associated with FSF Europe |publisher=[Free Software Foundation Europe](/source/Free_Software_Foundation_Europe) |date=13 June 2002 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/press-release/2002q2/000044.html}} {{citation |last=Law |first=Gillian |title=Patently ridiculous: What's Europe to do |work=IT World Canada - Information Technology news on products, services and issues for CIOs, IT managers and network admins |publisher=[IT World Canada](/source/International_Data_Group) |date=2 July 2002 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/patently-ridiculous-whats-europe-to-do/25791|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924182240/https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/patently-ridiculous-whats-europe-to-do/25791|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 24, 2020}} {{citation |last=Pilch |first=Hartmut |title=Munich Monday Demo for the Dublin System, against Asylum Bigotry |publisher=Hartmut Pilch (personal website) |date=12 September 2015 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=http://a2e.de/ius/15/09/00tatjana}} {{citation |last=Pilch |first=Hartmut |title=Periodic Reflexions and Sorted Experiences |publisher=Hartmut Pilch (personal website) |date=28 June 2017 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=http://a2e.de/phm}} {{citation |last=Bernstein |first=Martin |title=Pegida-Chef schmeißt zwei Mitstreiter raus |journal=[Süddeutsche Zeitung](/source/S%C3%BCddeutsche_Zeitung) |date=13 May 2016 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/streit-pegida-chef-schmeisst-zwei-mitstreiter-raus-1.2992546?print=true}} {{citation |author=München Nazifrei |title=Un-fass-bar pein-lich |publisher=[Facebook](/source/Facebook) |date=13 May 2016 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=638853969611909}} {{citation |last=Witzgall |first=Thomas |title=Münchner blockieren Pegida-"Spaziergang" am 9. November |publisher=Endstation Rechts |date=11 November 2015 |access-date=5 May 2024 |url=https://www.endstation-rechts.de/news/muenchner-blockieren-pegida-spaziergang-am-9-november}} {{cite news | first = Mary | last = Jacoby | title = How Hartmut Pilch, Avid Computer Geek, Bested Microsoft | date = 2006-09-12 | url = https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB115802923001560290 | publisher = [The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal) | accessdate = 2014-02-18}} == Bibliography == * {{citation |last=Haunss |first=Sebastian |title=Conflicts in the Knowledge Society: The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property |location=Cambridge |publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press) |year=2013 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139567633 |isbn=978-1-139-56763-3 }} ==External links== * {{Official website|http://a2e.de/phm/}} * [http://www.ffii.org/ FFII website] * [https://www.flickr.com/photos/124471633@N05/22932580002 A photo of Hartmut Pilch addressing a Pegida rally in Munich on 9 November 2015] {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilch, Hartmut}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:Anti-immigration activists Category:Intellectual property activism Category:Open source advocates Category:Pegida activists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hartmut Pilch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmut_Pilch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmut_Pilch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.