[Sussex] European Software Patents etc....

[John D.]

This has just arrived. It's the second reply I've had to my "moot 
prompted" moan to the Southern Region MEPs. Thought that those 
interested might like to have a read.



[quote]
Dear John,

Many thanks for your email regarding the Computer Implemented Inventions 
Directive. You are far from being alone in your views on this issue; I 
have received many other letters like yours, and fully share your 
concerns. The directive as adopted by the Council on Monday 7 March is 
not acceptable - either on grounds of reason, or of the threat it poses 
to innovation, competition and small entrepreneurs.



The Greens have already been very active on this issue; for example, we 
have co-hosted several conferences on software patents with, among 
others, Richard Stallman and Alan Cox, and with software SMEs such as 
Opera, MySQL and Graphic Convertor, in order to try and raise awareness 
on the matter. We have also organised a peaceful demonstration to 
express concern for the European Council's position, and in December 
last year we called upon European Agriculture and Fisheries ministers to 
respond to growing public and political hostility towards the proposed 
directive and to reject the legislation.



I believe that the tactics used by the Council to push through their 
version of the directive were an example of the EU at its worst. 
Fortunately the legislative procedure being used for this directive is 
co-decision. This means that the European Parliament will be consulted 
on the directive again when the Council's version (the "Common 
Position") returns to the Parliament for the second reading. Please be 
assured that I, and my Green MEP colleagues, will do all we can to 
re-write the text with the necessary proposals and amendments from the 
Parliament's first reading, with the ultimate aim of limiting 
patentability as far as possible. In the event that no agreement can be 
reached between Council and Parliament - which is unfortunately what I 
expect to happen - it is possible that the proposal may even go to a 
third reading under the so-called conciliation procedure. Alternatively 
if the Parliament feels that there is really no way of improving the 
text of the Common Position, it could reject it outright.



Greens will be continuing to work to obtain a majority in favour of 
limiting software patentability, in particular for software under open 
source licences in bona fide non-profit contexts; software which is 
necessary for the implementation of recognised international standards, 
and for that which is necessary for creating software interoperability 
for files and network protocols. However we will need to work hard to 
convince enough MEPs of the importance of this issue, and will need 
every possible support from outside the Parliament to do so.



If you would like more detailed information and news on European Green 
policies and activities in the field of free and open source software 
and software patents, please visit 
h_ttp://lists.collectifs.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/greensource_ where 
you can subscribe to the mailing list GreenSource.



May I take this opportunity to thank you again for your support on this 
matter, and to state once more my commitment to doing all I can to fight 
the cause.

Yours sincerely,
Caroline Lucas MEP [/quote]


When I was first eligible to vote, I conciously made an effort to read 
manifestos of the three main parties. I made my choice and have pretty 
much stuck with it since then, because the reasoning behind my choice 
has been reasonably constant since then. I think that next time theres 
an election, I'm going to make sure that I read up on the greens policies.

Hey, I might not change my views, but at least it'll leave me better 
informed!

regards

John D.