Jul 06 2005
Noting that ammendment 71 was total rejection, this pretty much says it all. Thanks to an FFII member on Freenodes #bxl-ffii for the capture. I should also thank the FFII in general, who co-ordinated most of the lobbying against this directive.
Jul 06 2005
I spent most of both Monday and Tuesday phoning and writing to various MEPs, gauging their position on the CII directive and hoping to push them in the right direction for today’s vote. It was much easier than I expected to actually get through to them, and my French got a free brush up. I thought it went well at the time, and indeed in the end, it does seem democracy does work. Today, thanks to the lobbying efforts of everyone involved in the “anti” campaign, we won. The European Parliament voted to reject the entire CII (so called “software patents”) directive, 648 to 14 (with 18 abstentions)!
It’s not the best result, because we would have preferred the directive to pass, but amended to disallow software patents. Hence, the current sub optimal law stands, and software patents will almost certainly be back on the agenda within the next five years. However, it’s insurmountably better than the directive passing unamended.
Dozens of emails, letters and phone calls later, we can finally bask in the glow of a victory in this battle. The war to ensure patent law remains fair and equitable for all businesses goes on.
