EU heads towards Software Patents
bone_idol | 08.05.2004 11:08 | Technology
The EU Council of Ministers is demonstrating that the concept of democracy is alien to the EU. This Wednesday, the Irish Presidency managed to secure a qualified majority for a counter-proposal to the software patents directive, with only a few countries - including Belgium and Germany - showing resistance. The new text proposes to discard all the amendments from the European which would limite patentability. Instead the lax language of the original Commission proposal is to be reinstated in its entirety, with direct patentability of computer programs, data structures and process descriptions added as icing on the cake. The proposal is now scheduled to be confirmed without discussion at a meeting of ministers on 17-18 May, unless one of the Member States changes its vote. In a remarkable sign of unity in times of imminent elections, members of the European Parliament from all groups across the political spectrum are condemning this blatant disrespect for democracy in Europe.
The powerful COREPER committee of EU member states' Permanent Representatives in Brussels has provisionally agreed on a new draft for the controversial Software Patent directive, overruling opposition from Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Slovakia.
The new draft rejects all of the European Parliament's limiting amendments, and is described by FFII as "the most uncompromisingly pro-patent text yet".
Technically, the decision by COREPER on Wednesday is only a "forecast" of the final decision, to be confirmed at the Competitiveness Council of Ministers on 17-18 May. Until that date, Member states can still change their minds (and their votes).
Support for the text at a political level in some states is still said to be quite soft; and decisions brokered in Coreper do fall apart (last year's discussions on the Community Patent, for example).
The Coreper text goes further than the text of the European Commission of 2002 in legalising software patents. In 2002 the Commission had agreed, in difficult negotiations between DG Internal Market (Bolkestein) and DG Informations Societey (Liikanen) not to allow program claims. Now it seems that DG Information Society has rolled over to the united pressure of Bolkestein and the Council's patent administrators.
A leaked document from Bolkestein's DG Internal Market suggests that DG Information Society no longer objects to program claims. This concession by Liikanen is needed in order to rush the Council working group proposal through the ministers' session as an "A item", i.e. a consensus point which does not need any discussion by the ministers.
For next week, the FFII is calling for another net strike and a wave of local events and demonstrations. Even these days people are demonstrating with banners near the offices of the Commission.
More recent news:
http://kwiki.ffii.org/Cons040507En
Action Days across Europe
http://kwiki.ffii.org/SwpDemo0405En
The new draft rejects all of the European Parliament's limiting amendments, and is described by FFII as "the most uncompromisingly pro-patent text yet".
Technically, the decision by COREPER on Wednesday is only a "forecast" of the final decision, to be confirmed at the Competitiveness Council of Ministers on 17-18 May. Until that date, Member states can still change their minds (and their votes).
Support for the text at a political level in some states is still said to be quite soft; and decisions brokered in Coreper do fall apart (last year's discussions on the Community Patent, for example).
The Coreper text goes further than the text of the European Commission of 2002 in legalising software patents. In 2002 the Commission had agreed, in difficult negotiations between DG Internal Market (Bolkestein) and DG Informations Societey (Liikanen) not to allow program claims. Now it seems that DG Information Society has rolled over to the united pressure of Bolkestein and the Council's patent administrators.
A leaked document from Bolkestein's DG Internal Market suggests that DG Information Society no longer objects to program claims. This concession by Liikanen is needed in order to rush the Council working group proposal through the ministers' session as an "A item", i.e. a consensus point which does not need any discussion by the ministers.
For next week, the FFII is calling for another net strike and a wave of local events and demonstrations. Even these days people are demonstrating with banners near the offices of the Commission.
More recent news:
http://kwiki.ffii.org/Cons040507En Action Days across Europe
http://kwiki.ffii.org/SwpDemo0405En
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