Software patenten

[Martijn Meijering]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

 http://kwiki.ffii.org/Restart050202En

Brussels, 2 February 2005 - The Legal Affairs Committee of the European
Parliament (JURI) has decided with a large majority to ask the Commission
for a renewed referral of the software patents directive. With only two or
three votes against and one abstention, the resolution had overwhelming
support from the committee, and all-party backing.

The decision is a powerful statement from MEPs that the current Council
text, and the logjam of concern it has caused, is simply not a sustainable
way forward. It is now up to the Commission to submit a new, or the same,
proposal to the Parliament. Parliament will then hold a new first reading,
this time under the guidance of Michel Rocard MEP as rapporteur.

The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Charlie McCreevy, had
in the morning assured the JURI Committee that the Council would finally
adopt its beleaguered Common Position text. He announced that "the
Luxembourg Presidency has now received written assurances concerning the
re-instatement of this issue as an A point at a forthcoming Council".
Given that A points are to be adopted without discussion, this left no
possibilities for renewed negotiations in the Council. Apparently, the
Members of Parliament concluded that a restart was the best solution.

Former french prime minister Michel Rocard MEP, PES (FR/PS), gave a very
strong speech at the meeting with the Commissioner. Apart from noting
several "inelegancies" by the Commission, such as not taking into account
any of the Parliament's substantive amendments in its recommendation to
the Council, he also took issue with the Dutch and German governments
ignoring their respective parliaments and the attempted ratifications of
the political (dis)agreement at several fishery Council meetings. He
furthermore mentioned that at a meeting with the Polish government, the
industry players had confirmed that the Council text allowed pure software
patents, and he wondered how the Commission could continue claiming the
reverse. He was also curious about how the Commission's perfectly
tautological definition of the concept "technical" could help in any way
to distinguish between what is patentable and what is not.

Despite his own abstention when voting on the restart later that day, the
fact that almost everyone else supported it is probably his personal
achievement.

The Commissioner made clear that "any agreement will need to strike a fair
balance between different interests", and that "a constructive dialogue
between the Council and Parliament will be vital for an agreement". He
does have the option to deny a new first reading. But given the strength
of feeling in the Parliament and the concerns of so many member states in
the Council, the Parliament request looks like the best way to achieve a
clean way forward for this Directive that everyone has been looking for.
Comments

Jonas Maebe, board member of FFII:

The Commissioner can jumpstart the constructive dialogue by submitting
a new and more balanced proposal to the European Parliament this time. By
taking into account the countless new facts that have surfaced since the
start of this procedure in 2002, the Commission has a great opportunity to
reinvigorate the Lisbon strategy.

Dieter Van Uytvanck, president FFII Belgium:

We owe this victory for democracy to the members of the European
parliament. Today they have shown once again that they really care
about the concerns of the European citizens. And of course we would
like to thank those as well. I'm sure that without their impressive
support for an innovative climate that is freed of software patents,
this step would not have been possible.

André Rebentisch, FFII Media

The Commissioner was not prepared to take blame for Bolkestein's policy.
Charlie McCreevy is a very straightforward Irish politician.
But unfortunately he adopted a pathetic phrase style. Today at JURI
he 'read poems' while JURI members talked plain language.

There is an option for him: It was old Commissioner Bolkestein who was
grilled, poorly defended by his party colleague MEP Toine Manders (VVD).

The JURI committee was upset with Bolkestein's policy and the lack of
preparation
from his successor McCreevy. MEP Kauppi pointed out that it was very easy
to agree
on McCreevy's phrases but it was also important to serve the interests of
European
innovators.

McCreevy has to change the position of the new Commission if he wants to
survive in front of Parliament. MEP Maria Berger suggested he shall learn
from this case. Kauppi said we did not need a new proposal from the
Commission
as Parliament already dismissed it but we needed a real 'common position'
from the Council.
The wordplay of MEP Lichtenberger clearly indicated the state of the debate:
national parliaments and Austrian parties say goodbye ("verabschieden
sich") to
the Council proposal from May, not that the Council should adopt it
("verabschieden").

MEP Berger indicated she would feel kidded if she had to discuss a "Common
Position"
in the 2nd reading with many unilateral declarations which state the
opposite.

There is little to add.

Jan Macek, board member of FFII:

This is a real victory of choosing the strategically safest way of getting
out
of the Council deadlock. A new 1-st reading gives the European Union a
chance of
having a real debate in all countries which I believe will having a really
clear
directive preventing software patents in a few years, which would not be
possible
within a limited 3 months time of a second reading.

I am really happy that members of the Committee didnt listen to any
pressure from
corporations to adopt the directive as is as fast as possible.

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