[Solar-general] se posponen las patentes de soft en europa

[Diego Saravia]

http://nosoftwarepatents.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?
p=925&sid=2d4cfb1b61d98b039a241e378e35065a#925

Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:21 pm    Post subject: (EN) 08 DEC 04: No Council 
decision in 2004, EP may restart   

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EU COUNCIL CANNOT ADOPT PROPOSAL FOR SOFTWARE PATENT DIRECTIVE IN 2004 DUE TO 
NON-EXISTENCE OF QUALIFIED MAJORITY – EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MAY RESTART ENTIRE 
LEGISLATIVE PROCESS 

Belgian minister Marc Verwilghen officially informed his parliament that the 
EU Council will postpone its decision until 2005 – Cited non-existence of 
qualified majority as reason – European Parliament has right to restart the 
entire legislative process 

Brussels (08 December 2004). The EU Council will not propose software 
patents – at least not this year. According to the Belgian minister of 
economic affairs, the past qualified majority for software patents no longer 
exists, and no decision will be taken under the current Dutch presidency. The 
latest development is that members of the European Parliament are looking at 
the possibility to restart the entire legislative process. That is an option 
under certain circumstances, such as after elections. 

Belgian Minister: No Council Decision Until Next Year 

Belgian minister of economic affairs Marc Verwilghen yesterday told the 
Belgian parliament that the proposed directive will not be voted on before 
2005. Until recently, the Council had said that it would refer its position 
to the European Parliament this year. 

Austrian Conservative MEP Othmar Karas, vice president of the largest group 
in the European Parliament (EPP-ED), warned against a decision of 
questionable legitimacy: "It would be downright anti-democratic to adopt a 
proposal that has no more qualified majority on the day of the official 
decision. Software patents have no more qualified majority in Europe." In a 
previous statement on www.NoSoftwarePatents.com, Linus Torvalds and other 
European software developers had already denounced the Council's current 
proposal as "deceptive, dangerous, and democratically illegitimate". 

Transcript of statements by minister Verwilghen: 
http://www.dekamer.be/doc/CCRI/pdf%5C51%5Cic424.pdf (pages 16 et seq.) 

Recent statement by Linus Torvalds et al.: 
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/app0411.html 

European Parliament Looking At Possibility to Restart Entire Legislative 
Process 

Members of the European Parliament are now looking at the possibility to 
restart the entire legislative process on software patents. That is allowed 
for by Rule 55 of the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure if new 
elections have taken place or if the circumstances have changed. The 
Commission would have to resubmit a proposal to the European Parliament. 

"Due to elections and the EU enlargement, a majority of today's MEPs did not 
get to participate in the first reading last year. This would be an exit 
strategy for the Council and an opportunity for the parliamentarians and the 
governments of the new member states to fully participate in this from the 
start", Florian Mueller said. He furthermore pointed out that "a restart 
after elections is even an automatism in the German parliament", and 
expressed his belief that "oddly enough, this may actually be the fastest 
path to a solution that is acceptable to everyone". According to Mr. 
Mueller, "MEPs from a variety of political groups are now favorable to this 
procedural step". 

Rule 55 of European Parliament's Rules of Procedure: 
Rule 55: Renewed Referral to Parliament 

Parliamentary Leader Poses Legitimacy-Related Questions to Council 

Othmar Karas MEP, vice president of the largest group in the European 
Parliament (EPP-ED), has posed parliamentary questions to the EU Council. Mr. 
Karas describes the political agreement of May 18th as "thin-footed" after 
the Polish government clarified that it cannot support the current proposal, 
and in view of parliamentary initiatives in the Netherlands and Germany to 
change the position of those countries in the Council. The parliamentarian 
wants to know how the Council plans to take those factors into account. The 
Council now has to respond to those questions in writing, within six weeks. 

Homepage of Othmar Karas MEP: 
http://www.othmar-karas.at 

Former White House Adviser: "Europe now has an opportunity" 

The latest evolution of the EU legislative process on software patents is 
followed with increasing interest in the United States. Professor Brian 
Kahin, former senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and 
Technology Policy during the Clinton administration, now at the University of 
Michigan, said: "Europe now has an opportunity to examine this all-important 
policy issue in real depth – rather than as an arcane legal argument. 
Something needs to be done to relieve software developers, knowledge 
producers, and users in all sectors from the incalculable liabilities that 
are building up around software processes. By allowing SMEs the 'freedom of 
action' that only companies with the largest patent portfolios enjoy in the 
U.S., Europe may benefit from the kind of renewal and regeneration that has 
distinguished the U.S. economy – at least in this area where barriers to 
entry are inherently low." 

Brian Kahin biography: 
http://si.umich.edu/~kahin/bio.html 

About the NoSoftwarePatents.com Campaign 

The NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign was launched on October 20th in initially 
12 languages and is supported by three IT companies (1&1, Red Hat, and MySQL 
AB). More information on the campaign is available on the campaign Web site. 

Contact Information 

For further information concerning this announcement or the 
NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, please contact: 

Florian Mueller 
Campaign Manager, NoSoftwarePatents.com 
telephone +49 (8151) 651850 
press en nosoftwarepatents.com 
 


-- 
Diego Saravia 
dsa en unsa.edu.ar