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Aaron Trevena wrote: | On 7/6/05, Neil Williams <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: | |> The European Parliament has voted by a massive majority to reject |> the software patents directive, formally known as the Directive on |> the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions. The vote to |> scrap the bill was passed by a margin of 648 votes to 14, with 18 |> abstentions. |> | | Unfortunately this till leaves a lot for us to do. | | The UKPO is continuing to allow pure and trivial software patents and | you would have to be very naive to think the forces of greed and | corruption will let this drop.
That is true, but none of these will be enforceable without a new directive. None of the existing software patents can be enforced and neither can any new ones.
A new directive may be possible and there is now time to get it right.
More from the reg: "According to Muller, MEPs are divided about what should happen next. The Conservative group has called for a news proposal from the Commission, while the Greens would like the parliamentary vote to be interpreted as a final rejection of the bill."
"Before any next step, we need a period of reflection, and a proper economic policy debate. It is not like we've accomplished everything here. Ideally, we want a good directive, but at this stage no directive was the best directive we could hope for,"
| Unfortunately I expect things to get worse quickly as they attempt to | establish case law, etc to acheive their goals without new | legislation and this needs to be stopped in the bud before it turns | nasty.
It also gives more time for the earlier trivial patents to expire . . .
| Anybody familiar with what has been going on should contact their MP | about the UKPO's dodgy lobbying and patenting of software.
Absolutely - but also take the opportunity to work with UPKO examiners. During the meeting with Lord Sainsbury and the later workshops, it was good to meet and talk to some of the experienced examiners. Focus on the organisation and the people at the top, the examiners themselves are open to discussion. If others are interested, I may investigate getting a patent examiner from the UKPO to come and talk to the LUG. They are programmers, they have industrial experience and they are open to help and assistance from those who are currently developing code.
Isn't there a lawsuit against the EPO organisation outstanding?
| MPs should | be holding the guilty parties to account and getting the UKPO to | clean up the mess it has made.
The UKPO and EPO can only change future applications, existing patents can now only be invalidated permanently by a good directive - something we can now work on now that the original directive has been ruled out.
- --
Neil Williams ============= http://www.codehelp.co.uk/ http://www.dclug.org.uk/ http://www.isbn.org.uk/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/
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