[ale] EU Software Patent Vote

[Michael Hirsch]

On 7/18/05, aaron <aaron at pd.org> wrote:
> On Sunday 17 July 2005 23:10, Ken Arromdee wrote:
> > Umm, the corporate interests told representatives to vote against it because
> > having no law at all would be better than having one with anti-patent
> > amendments.  Don't kid yourself, they were able to muster a lot more support
> > than 14.
> 
> If the MicroSoft monopolist consortium didn't actually want the EU software
> patent directive, then perhaps you can explain their schizophrenic
> justification for authoring the language and aggressively lobbying to have it
> passed?
> 
> If more than 14 EU parlaiment members supported MicoSoft's special interest
> agenda, they would have voted in favor of the patent directive which that
> company designed and lobbied to install.

My understanding is the same as Ken's.  Enough amendments went in to
make the law unpalatable to both sides of the issue.  For instance, in
the usually very clear and precise coverage in LinuxWeeklyNews
(subscription required until Thursday, I think)
http://lwn.net/Articles/142903/

"This vote is not a result of a sudden general understanding that
software patents are a bad idea. In the end, most parties went against
the directive because (1) it had been amended to the point that nobody
liked it anymore, and (2) the parliament was not pleased with how it
had been treated by the European Council. So the vote should not be
seen as a definitive statement from Europe on software patents; it
also should not be seen as the end of the debate."

Michael