[Gllug] patent office consultation paper

[Mike Brodbelt]

On Sat, 2002-08-10 at 10:33, Alain Williams wrote:
> the uk patent office has put out a consultation paper on patents.
> This is in response to EU legislation.
> 
> It is aka DMCA -- we just done want this.

Unfortunately, we're going to get screwed whether we like it or not.
This thing stems from an EU copyright directive that has already been
agreed. I don't remember whether there was a consultation about the
EUCD, if there was, I was certainly unaware of it. The following quote
from the consultation paper shows this:-

'It would be helpful if respondents could bear in mind that this
consultation is not about whether the requirements of the Directive
itself are appropriate. The Directive has been agreed, is in force, and
cannot be changed at this time.'

> Please follow the link and take the time to reply.
> 
> 	http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/eccopyright/index.htm
> 
> Remember - your views DO count. I have taken part in several of these
> consultation papers, in a country of 50M people, typically 200-400 will
> bother to reply -- so you can make a difference.

I will certainly be writing to the patent office about this, and I will
also be writing to my MP. I'm not convinced any of it will help, but
it's pretty much the only thing that can be done.
 
> Whether the UK govt is actually interested in what the public wants
> is a completely different issue.

The current government has consistently shown a cavalier disregard for
what the public wants, and I can't imagine they're about to change.
Remember the RIP bill....


Mike.


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