Software patent debate heads for climax

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

http://www.edri.org/

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Software patent debate heads for climax
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The not for profit association FFII (Foundation for a Free
Information Infrastructure) is assembling all forces for a
climax in the battle against the patentability of software
programs. On 6 July 2005 the European Parliament will vote
in plenary on the proposed directive on computer-implemented
inventions. It is the second reading. In the first reading
Parliament rejected the Commission proposal with a large
majority, but that protest was largely ignored by the
ministers of competitiveness from the member states. In the
second reading an absolute majority of all MEPs is required
to reject or amend the proposal, i.e. 367 votes,
irrespective of absences or abstentions. In order to make
sure enough MEPs are present, FFII is calling on all
supporters to contact their national Europarl representatives.

First the commission on legal affairs (JURI) will vote on
20/21 June 2005. In a great collaborative effort FFII has
build a file with all the amendments tabled on the proposal
prepared by rapporteur Michel Rocard, with extensive voting
advice.

On 1 June 2005 FFII organised a conference in Brussels with
the CCIA (Computer and Communications Industry Association)
and 4 MEPs. This morning two other hearings were organised
by the Europarl itself. One hearing was organised by the
Greens together with FSF Europe with keynote speaker Richard
Stallman and another by the EPP-ED group with Theodora
Karamanli from the European Patent Office and many
representatives from both SMEs and multinational companies.
Finally, this evening demonstrations will take place in
Brussels, Vienna and Helsinki.

According to FFII notes on the conference there was an
interesting debate with Mark MacGann, the executive director
of EICTA, about the validity of the 'economic majority'
presented by FFII against software patents. This
open list is now signed by 544 companies, representing an
annual turnover of almost 1.5 billion euro. EICTA (European
Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics
Technology Industry Association) represents 32 national
ICT/CE associations from 24 European countries and fully
supports the Council position. MacGann explained that
software patents were sufficiently excluded. Immediately a
representative from SUN stood up and said EICTA could not
speak on behalf of their company on software patents.
Similarly, a representative from ISOC Poland said the Polish
IT association had equally rejected the position of EICTA.

The German e-zine Heise was present at the conference and
reports that the Council is already setting up trilogue
meetings to reach a common position, independent of the
outcome of the EP plenary vote, to prevent any official
conciliation procedure. If Council, Commission and European
Parliament reach such an informal agreement, the directive
can immediately enter into force after the EP vote.

Softwarepatente: EU-Rat will kurzen Prozess bei der
Richtlinie machen (02.06.2005)
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/60169

FFII notes on the 1 June conference (01.06.2005)
http://wiki.ffii.org/Konf050601En

FFII analysis and voting recommendations per article (ongoing)
http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/europarl0309/amends05/juri0504/amendment-analysis.pdf

Sign-up campaign economic majority
http://www.economic-majority.com/
"

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