We are placing the "Thank you, Poland!" banner at the top of the main page to thank the Undersecretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Science and Technology, Wlodzimierz Marcinski. This is in response to him blocking the European software patent vote on 21, Dec 2004, making him single-handedly responsible for keeping Europe software patent-free.

We strongly suggest that all believers of software Freedom send a thank you letter to Mr. Marcinski in order to show our support and solidarity. The fastest way to do this is to sign the thank you letter at the "Thank You, Poland" website, which will be printed out and given to him. However, extra impact can be made by sending him a letter via snail-mail. He can be reached through your local Polish Embassy at the following addresses:

United States:

Embassy of the Republic of Poland to the United States of America
2640 16th Street, NW
Washington DC 20009

Europe / United Kingdom:

Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union
Avenue de Tervueren, 282-284
B-1150 Bruxelles

Other:

Here is a list of Polish embassies.

Finally, here is a short list of links for you if you wish for more information on software patents:

• softwarepatents.co.uk - A good introductory site to the world of software patents.
• FSF Europe - Software Patents - Free Software Europe's Software Patents action page.
• ffii.org - A European non-profit association dedicated to the spread of data literacy.
• Saving Europe from Software Patents
• Patent Reform is not Enough
• Fighting Software Patents - Singly and Together
• Why There Are No GIF Files on GNU Web Pages
• Some pages that are more in-depth can be found in our philosophy section.

Thank you for your time,
The Free Software Foundation