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There is to be a referendum in Denmark on the Unified Patent Court, which will be a single patent authority for European countries (I believe some non-EU countries participate, while Italy and Spain have declined)
http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/danish-government-confirms-eu-re-n...
The Danish free software/digital rights community as embodied e.g. in It-Politisk Forening (http://www.itpol.dk, IT-Political Association of Denmark) of which I am a member, is recommending a NO to the UPC.
This is because while software patents are (I believe) not allowed in European patents, the European-level courts have adopted a far more permissive stance than our local patent office, which means that accepting the UPC will result in many more software patents being enforceable in Denmark.
All political parties support the UPC and favour a YES at the referendum, except the far-right Danish People's Party (DPP) and the left-wing Enhedslisten (EL).
Whereas DPP oppose the UPC on grounds of national sovereignty, EL have argued against giving large corporation an uncontrollable (by us in Denmark, or people outside the EU bureacracy) monopoly on ideas to large corporations. Interestingly, they have explicitly mentioned the threat from software patents currently acknowledged on the European level but not by our local system.
I've been invited to a meeting next Monday, and I think I will ad the support of our local FSFE group on the "NO" side. The reasoning is, once again: We do not want any software patents, and we believe this unified patents may easily become a means for introducing software patents on the European level.
On the other hand, a Danish "NO" might be a good starting for a general campaign for a complete ban on software patents on the European level.
I don't think I have links to a good analysis in English, but people might try Google translating this one: http://www.itpol.dk/notater/enhedspatent-og-softwarepatenter-erhvervsudvalg-...
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PS:
This, of course, is the original illustration of what might go wrong with the Unified Patent:
On 01/16/2014 05:00 PM, Carsten Agger wrote:
There is to be a referendum in Denmark on the Unified Patent Court, which will be a single patent authority for European countries (I believe some non-EU countries participate, while Italy and Spain have declined)
http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/danish-government-confirms-eu-re-n...
The Danish free software/digital rights community as embodied e.g. in It-Politisk Forening (http://www.itpol.dk, IT-Political Association of Denmark) of which I am a member, is recommending a NO to the UPC.
This is because while software patents are (I believe) not allowed in European patents, the European-level courts have adopted a far more permissive stance than our local patent office, which means that accepting the UPC will result in many more software patents being enforceable in Denmark.
All political parties support the UPC and favour a YES at the referendum, except the far-right Danish People's Party (DPP) and the left-wing Enhedslisten (EL).
Whereas DPP oppose the UPC on grounds of national sovereignty, EL have argued against giving large corporation an uncontrollable (by us in Denmark, or people outside the EU bureacracy) monopoly on ideas to large corporations. Interestingly, they have explicitly mentioned the threat from software patents currently acknowledged on the European level but not by our local system.
I've been invited to a meeting next Monday, and I think I will ad the support of our local FSFE group on the "NO" side. The reasoning is, once again: We do not want any software patents, and we believe this unified patents may easily become a means for introducing software patents on the European level.
On the other hand, a Danish "NO" might be a good starting for a general campaign for a complete ban on software patents on the European level.
I don't think I have links to a good analysis in English, but people might try Google translating this one: http://www.itpol.dk/notater/enhedspatent-og-softwarepatenter-erhvervsudvalg-...
hi Carsten,
* Carsten Agger agger@modspil.dk [2014-01-16 17:00:33 +0100]:
I've been invited to a meeting next Monday, and I think I will ad the support of our local FSFE group on the "NO" side. The reasoning is, once again: We do not want any software patents, and we believe this unified patents may easily become a means for introducing software patents on the European level.
I am sorry I am late on this. How did it go?
For the follow-up it might help you to read https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130612-01.en.html and the linked documents. As you can read German also http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/ausschuesse17/a06/anhoerungen/archiv/47_Patentierung_von_Computerprogrammen/04_Stellungnahmen/Stellungnahme_Kirschner.pdf our written statement to the German Parliament.
Some other background on the German situation is available in my blog entry https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/fsfe-meeting-the-fsf-crew-in-boston-2/ (I have no clue why the URL is so strange, I converted from the short numbers to longer links some time ago).
Best Regards, Matthias
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On 01/21/2014 09:04 AM, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
hi Carsten,
- Carsten Agger agger@modspil.dk [2014-01-16 17:00:33 +0100]:
I've been invited to a meeting next Monday, and I think I will ad the support of our local FSFE group on the "NO" side. The reasoning is, once again: We do not want any software patents, and we believe this unified patents may easily become a means for introducing software patents on the European level.
I am sorry I am late on this. How did it go?
It went fine!
The Danish IT-worker's union PROSA are very keen on getting a "no", because they're convinced that adopting the Unified Patent Court without a clear ban on software patents means that software patents *will* be enforceable throughout the EU, or at least that that's a very serious risk.
Therefore, they wish to launch a "no" campaign that builds on the threat of software patents and support to and solidarity with SMEs.
It's sort of a first that software patents becomes a prime issue in national politics. It's also kind of bewildering to the "yes" side who hadn't expected this.
So I think the campaign and the ideas behind it look promising.
The referendum doesn't look very promising, though. For the patent court to be rejected, 30% of those eligible to vote most vote "no" - a simple majority is not enough. That's very difficult for a technical issue like this one.
That
For the follow-up it might help you to read https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130612-01.en.html and the linked documents. As you can read German also http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/ausschuesse17/a06/anhoerungen/archiv/47_Patentierung_von_Computerprogrammen/04_Stellungnahmen/Stellungnahme_Kirschner.pdf
our written statement to the German Parliament.
Some other background on the German situation is available in my blog entry https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/fsfe-meeting-the-fsf-crew-in-boston-2/ (I have no clue why the URL is so strange, I converted from the short numbers to longer links some time ago).
Thanks for the links, I'm looking at them now. :-)
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On 01/21/2014 09:04 AM, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
For the follow-up it might help you to read https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130612-01.en.html and the linked documents. As you can read German also http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/ausschuesse17/a06/anhoerungen/archiv/47_Patentierung_von_Computerprogrammen/04_Stellungnahmen/Stellungnahme_Kirschner.pdf
our written statement to the German Parliament.
Thanks again for the input!
Here's a thought, though: Might the German Parliament's motion against software patents be rendered irrelevant by the Unified Patent Court and the European Patent?
If patents are awarded on the European level, and the UPC becomes the highest instance for the enforcement of patents - and it ends up following the current European Patent practise (see http://webshop.ffii.org/) then it won't be possible to prevent the enforcement of software patents on the national level.
That's the theory, at least. And the European Parliament has not voted to prevent software patents in the European Patent. That's why we're against ratified the UPC.
Hi Carsten,
thanks for the summary. You should continue to try to get a "no". In Germany this joint motion is one step towards finding a solution to get rid of software patents in Europe. So it is good that the political parties are against software patents, but now they have to do something to change the problems in reality, which also means influencing the situation in Europe.
Best Regards, Matthias