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<TITLE>RE: [Gllug] EU patents </TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>> -----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> From: Mick Farmer [<A HREF="mailto:mick@dcs.bbk.ac.uk">mailto:mick@dcs.bbk.ac.uk</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Sent: 30 June 2003 14:05</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> To: gllug@linux.co.uk</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Subject: Re: [Gllug] EU patents </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Dear GLLUGers,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> The problem is that the eurocrats are not morons. They are,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> in fact, quite clever and adept in the areas that matter to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> them, e.g. their salaries and their jobs.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Unfortunately, they are susceptible to lobbying (because</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> this is the drivel they regurgitate all the time) and the US</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> has been lobbying the EU extremely hard for the EU to come</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> into line with the US on software patents.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Hopefully the UK will see the madness in all this and refuse</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> to play Brussel Sprouts.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Not as simple as all that - if it's adopted as a directive then that's it - its the law. Even it is not transalted directly into UK law (as it is supposed to be) it can still be justicible (as we say in the trade) at the ECJ.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>What is not clear to me is where this is at - the EP has to agree it, but so do the council of ministers. If that hasn't happened yet then there can be all sorts of lobbying done on Westminster-based pols (indeed all domestic EU member state politicians) too - and nobody seems to have twigged that.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>I endorse some of the points made in other posts though - a lot of screaming about the evils of "the man" is going to get people nowhere. far better to make the point that for any sort of domestic software industry to prosper we need to have a light-touch regime. I think there will be a bigger audience for those sorts of arguments than many realise.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The EU is moving in this direction because it thinks it will be good for EU trade etc. Not because the EU is evil. Use your brain before you intervene. Find examples of domestic software success and show how they are threatened.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>If you want to be martyred as a free-software-hippie though, step right up.</FONT>
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