Refund4Freedom +++ Legal Corner +++ SFP
May kept us quite busy attending conferences and with the kick-off of
the Refund4Freedom initiative. We also went through the issue of the
threshold of originality for copyrightable source code and talked in our
latest episode of the Software Freedom Podcast about the tech
sovereignty debate in the EU.
Table of contents
Quote of the Month
“It was love at first sight with Ada & Zangemann: stickers on my
laptop, and a spark in my classroom. The real magic happens when my high
school students enter primary schools and I tell the younger kids: ‘Go
on, adopt a big kid.’ You can see their eyes light up with wonder as
they whisper to each other, connected by curiosity and
joy"
Giacomo Alessandroni, engineer and teacher. Organizer of
Ada &
Zangemann readings in Italy with a focus on robotics.
Refund4Freedom project: Kick off in Italy!
Refund4Freedom, a new
initiative by the Italian Linux Society (ILS) and the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE) launched on 29 May. This project wants to make
it easier for computer users to claim refunds for unused pre-installed
software. By demanding
refunds for unwanted pre-installed software, Refund4Freedom helps users
avoid unnecessary costs while encouraging
device neutrality and user-controlled choices. Refund4Freedom is one of a broader set of activities
empowering end-users' rights. More about
it
By the way, support for Windows 10 ends on 14 October 2025, but the End of 10 campaign, which encourages
users to
keep using their current hardware by switching to Free Software
operating systems, is there to help. The FSFE suopports this initiative.
SFP#34: Policy and EU: Tech sovereignty debate in
the EU
Dive with us into the inner workings of the European Parliament and
learn about their approach on technological sovereignty. In this 34th
episode of the Software Freedom Podcast, Alex and Bonnie discuss the
current debate in the European Union and pay special attention to the
current European technological sovereignty and digital infrastructure
INI.
Legal Corner: The threshold of originality for
copyrightable source code
As a general rule, software source code is by default protected by
copyright. Copyright holders create Free Software by applying a Free
Software license to their code. Creative works, such as source code,
nevertheless must be sufficiently original in nature before they can be
protected by copyright. Exactly what is this “threshold of originality”,
and are there types of code that are not automatically protected by
copyright?
Read
more
At the stages: participating in conferences around
Europe
We have been busy in May as we have participated in several
conferences around Europe: Salmorejo Tech in Córdoba (Spain), DORS/CLUC
in Zagreb (Croatia), re:publica in Berlin (Germany), Hackmeeting HackIT
in Cagliari (Italy), and T-DOSE 2025 in Eindhoven (The Netherlands).
Lucas Lasota, FSFE Legal Programme Manager, gave a talk online on 27
May about how the Digital Markets Act (DMA) relies on interoperability
as one of its regulatory tool in Art. 6(7).
Gabriel Ku Wei Bin, FSFE Legal Programme Manager, participated in a
panel discussion on software freedom and machine learning in Warsaw,
during the local celebrations of 40 years of software freedom.
We will be also busy in June attending events such as DevConf CZ,
openSuse Conference 2025, and many more... Find out more on events.fsfe.org!
Share your thoughts: why are you supporting
Software Freedom?
This year, we are celebrating 40 years of software freedom, and we
want to hear from you about why this is important to you! Send us a
brief quote to contact@fsfe.org. Tell us why you support it and what it
means to you! We will use the best ones to update our testimonials page
and other communication channels!
Contribute to our Newsletter
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work, and join our
community. We would like to thank our community and all the
volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible, with a
special mention to our translators who make it possible for you to read
this newsletter in your mother tongue.
Your editor,
Ana
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