EU says NO to software patents!
The European parliament has rejected pure software patents with an overwhelming majority. 648 MEP's voted against, 14 voted in favor and there where 18 absentions. This really is good news for open source developers and small software corporations in the EU.
Jonas Maebe, FFII Board Member:
This result clearly shows that thorough analysis, genuinely concerned citizens and factual information have more impact than free ice-cream, boatloads of hired lobbyists and outsourcing threats.
It is the second time the parliament votes on this directive. The first time the parliament added a lot of amendments. It then went back to the European commission for a redesign with the amendments. The commission (that is not democraticly chosen) ignored the amendments of the parliament (which is democraticly chosen) and proposed a directive that would allow pure software patents. That probably annoyed a lot of MEP's. That might be an explanation for the overwhelming rejection. Another explanation is that the MEP's that are in favor of software patents didn't like the amendments that would follow if it was passed.
The commission earlier said that it would not propose a new directive if it was rejected. So if they stick to their promise, the nightmare and uncertainty is over, for now :-). A big thanks to the FFII and everyone else that convinced the MEP's to vote against
You can read why software patents are so bad here (Dutch) or here (English)
A lot of the regular news sites have stories (2, 3 ,4) on this
Categorieën: Open Source, Politiek | Geen reacties