[Fsfe-uk] Good news, bad news.... [Fwd: Fourtou IPR directive: wake up!]

[Alex Hudson]

Latest updates from the world of European politics.

Software patents: it appears that the current directive (& discussions
on/around it) will be put on ice until the next session of the European
Parliament. This is not necessarily good or bad in and of itself, but
the extra time can only help our cause. 

And the bad news... I'm forwarding this message from the BXL list (among
others). It seems that the IPR Enforcement directive is coming far far
quicker than anyone expected. If you don't know about this directive,
look here:

        http://www.fipr.org/copyright/draft-ipr-enforce.html

Of particular interest to free software supporters would be the changes
to copyright law (especially the removal of the ability to reverse
engineer, and reduction in the possibilities of interoperability) and
the general criminalisation of IP infringement (all of copyright, trade
mark and patent law being of potential interest to us here).

If you haven't already written to your MP and/or MEP on the subject of
software patents, I would implore you do that *and* mention this - we
have already lost ground (EUCD, for example) in this modern war and it
would be nice to have a real victory for a change. We are seeing many
small successes, it's just now a matter of stringing this stuff
together.

I will try to find more information on both these subjects within the
next few days, the IPRD in particular appears to be flying under most
peoples' radar.

Cheers,

Alex.

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Henrion Benjamin <address@hidden>
Subject: Fourtou IPR directive: wake up!
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 22:23:14 +0100

Hello,

Seems that the vote on IP Rights Enforcement will be voted the 15 december
in Strasbourg.

This directive should be rejected by the Parliament, but we need again to
make the same effort as we did for the software patents vote.

For those who doesn't know details of the Fourtou's directive, it fixes
the SANCTIONS FOR PATENT INFRIGMENT.

The rapporteur of the Directive is Janelly Fourtou, which was in the room
in the Petition Comitee last month, and she strongly opposed with others
like Rothley to ACCEPT THE EUROLINUX PETITION.

We need to attract attention of medias to that question, and raise
pressure around this directive.

The timetable is short, but we need to setup something quickly, organising
a mobile demo in Brussels again should be possible. It seems that many
Free Software associations has not yet taken position on this subject, I
encourage your association to make a good Press Release to warn about the
dangerous effects of this directive.

Please help us to make a task force as soon as possible, I invite you to
join the effort on the wiki page:

http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/IPEnforcementDirective

Further quotes of Microsoft and Nokia in
http://www.computerweekly.com/Article125845.htm :

Nokia, for example, fears that by covering patents, the directive
threatens the economic well-being of innovation-based businesses in
Europe.

"It is vitally important that this directive strikes the right balance
between protecting the interests of rightholders without unfairly impeding
others from competing in the same market," claimed Tim Frain, Nokia's
director of intellectual property.

Patent infringement is an everyday risk for innovators, and risk
assessment is a business decision, said Frain, adding that if patent
infringement were to be made punishable by criminal sanctions, it would
act as a strong disincentive for executives.

Introducing such harsh remedies for good faith infringements would present
new risks and liabilities for companies conducting bonafide business in
Europe, he said.

Microsoft's senior legal counsel, Marie-Therese Huppertz, shares some of
Frain's concerns. Questioning whether there should there be the same rules
for patent infringements as for counterfeiting, she agreed that criminal
sanctions for patent infringers may well stifle innovation.

The argument for excluding patents from the scope of the proposed law
appears to have won over Janelly Fourtou, the European parliamentarian
responsible for preparing the parliament's position on the proposal.

The issue of patents is complex, Fourtou said. Last month a debate in the
European Parliament on a proposal for a law on software patents provoked
one of the most bitter and aggressive lobbying efforts the House has ever
seen, according to several MEPs.

Fourtou said she did not want the IP enforcement bill to get bogged down
in a similar dispute. However, the commission's desire to include patents
may still win the day.