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Notícies :: xarxa i llibertat : pobles i cultures vs poder i estats |
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ALERT: Only 4 weeks to stop e-patents in Europe
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per FFII UK |
19 oct 2003
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UK minister likely to vote to annul EU Parliament decision. Write to your national MP today -- or the software industry gets it! |
In September the European Parliament voted for strong restrictions on software patents. In its plenary vote on 24 September, the European Parliament approved the proposed directive on "patentability of computer-implemented inventions" with amendments that clearly restate the non-patentability of programming and business logic, and uphold freedom of publication and interoperation. The day before, EC Commissioner Bolkestein had threatened that the Commission and the Council would withdraw the directive proposal and hand the questions back to the national patent administrators on the board of the European Patent Office (EPO), should the Parliament vote for the amendments.
But these could be set aside at a meeting of the EU's Competitiveness Council of Ministers on 10 November. The ministers' meeting is to be "prepared" at a meeting of senior patent officials from across Europe even sooner: this Thursday 23 October.
If they are not convinced otherwise before 10 November, it is believed that UK ministers will push for the Council to adopt a November 2002 draft text, which is even worse than the infamous McCarthy report. The European Parliament's rules for second reading make it very difficult for MEPs to fix a bad text from the Council.
http://www.ffii.org.uk/council.html
http://www.ffii.org.uk/nov2002.html |
