So does this leave us with a satisfactory position ? I'm not at all sure.
I'm curious as to why Europeans are not trying to get the principle of the GPL incorporated into European law. Wouldn't this be better than hedging around trying to determin what is patentable and what it not. If the GPL was part of European law then the force of that licence would be upheld in European courts. That would stop large companies with oudles of money tying anyone up for years while courts decide who owns what and can use what and when. The GPL is an open use licence , any software offered under GPL is usable by anyone else, no matter who created it. If it isn't offered under GPL it's not available for general use without express permission, with or without charge. As it is at the moment even if a piece of software is offered under GPL it's not certain that it can be used without the user agreeing to use it under GPL, which is I think why we are being asked to accept the GPL licence everytime we install a new OS.
John
Margot wrote:
An interesting reply from my MEP Caroline Lucas...
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Software Patents Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 11:08:19 +0200 From: Caroline (Dr) Lucas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Margot,
Thanks you for your email on software patenting. You'll be pleased to note that it was the Green Group here in the Parliament that was the only effective opposition to the proposal.
We, after months of delay, finally voted on the Commission proposal last Wednesday, 24th September. It had been the intention of the European Commission and numerous European governments to adopt a system that is similar to the American one.
Software patents favour huge companies that can afford a legal department, therefore harming small and medium-sized enterprises who are responsible for much of the innovation in the IT field. Patents are expensive, create much administrative work, and are granted slowly and for a lengthy time period, while the life cycle of software is short.
The Green Group in the European Parliament was, and will remain, very active on this topic, leading resistance to the Directive (see our website http://www.greens-efa.org and click on "software patents").
Ahead of the vote we successfully managed to persuade enough MEPs to substantially modify the text of the Commission proposal in the following ways:
· to exclude software from patentability (but only in one part of the proposal); · to prohibit the patenting of intellectual methods (software, teaching methods, business methods etc); and · to allow reverse engineering and interoperability.
However, the draft Directive remains ambiguous and contradictory (articles 2 & 4 contradict each other, with the preamble contradicting the legal articles). As currently drafted I believe it will open the gate for software patents in the European Union, just as the Commission and UK government originally intended. It is for this reason that, after voting in favour of the amendments mentioned above, but I voted against the Directive as a whole.
Furthermore, and rather ominously, given our success in the Parliament, the Commission may now withdraw the draft Directive and seek a legislative route that does not involve democratic scrutiny. We must all therefore remain alert and continue to campaign on this issue.
Best wishes,
Caroline
--
John Richard Smith
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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