FYI -----Original Message----- From: epatents-bounces [ at ] lists [ dot ] hellug [ dot ] gr [mailto:epatents-bounces [ at ] lists [ dot ] hellug [ dot ] gr] On Behalf Of Antonios Christofides Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 1:18 PM To: epatents [ at ] lists [ dot ] hellug [ dot ] gr; gr-news [ at ] ffii [ dot ] org Subject: [ffii] Commission won't restart patents directive,DG MARKT fears balanced approach ----- Forwarded message ----- To: news [ at ] ffii [ dot ] org From: Jonas Maebe <jmaebe [ at ] ffii [ dot ] org> Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:50:34 +0100 Subject: [ffii] Commission won't restart patents directive, DG MARKT fears balanced approach PRESS RELEASE FFII -- [ Europe / economy / ICT ] ======================================================================== Commission won't restart patents directive, DG MARKT fears balanced approach ======================================================================== Brussels, 28 February 2005 -- The Commission has turned down the European Parliament's request for a restart of the software patents directive. Despite a virtually unanimous vote in the European Parliament's responsible JURI Committee and a unanimous request by the whole European Parliament in plenary, the Commission's DG Internal Market is apparently determined to destroy the directive by trying to get the EP to massively reject the directive in second reading. The Commission's Directorate General for the Internal Market, which is responsible for the directive, has informed several parties today it has denied the EP's request for a restart of the much contested software patents directive. FFII confirmed this information with Ms Antonia Carparelli, deputy head cabinet of Commissioner Walström's office and responsible for relations with the Parliament. She said "Yes, Barrosso has declined the restart. McCreevy is involved, but did not take the final decision. The college acts by majority, but in this case there was no vote, because the decision was based on a previous discussion in the college." She also mentioned that she didn't think that McCreevy could be persuaded to renegotiate in the Council. This confirms what FFII had previously already heard from a member of the Commission's DG Information Society, namely that that DG MARKT was very reluctant to restart. The reported reason was that if they do restart, they must produce a new text on which several other DG's, such as Information Society and Competition, must agree as well. These other DG's would reportedly never support an extreme text such as the one currently on the table in the Council, or even the original Commission proposal from 2002. They would insist on a more balanced approach, which is apparently not desired by DG MARKT. "Instead of grabbing the chance to take into account all new facts which have come to light since the origin of the current directive text, namely the Green Paper from 1997, the Commission is alienating the EP to an extent that it may very well simply call a halt to this farce which is supposed to represent democracy", comments Jonas Maebe, FFII Board Member. "If a set of harmonised rules is truly the number one goal of the Commission, then why is it sabotaging the whole process?" In the mean time, highly placed government sources have also confirmed that the directive will once more appear as an A-item on 7 March, this time on the agenda of the responsible Competition Council formation. All hope for a democratic and balanced resolution now rests on the shoulders of the ministers and officials who will attend that Council meeting. Turning the directive back into a B-item, i.e. a discussion point, seems to be the only proper way out now. ======================================================================== Extra information ======================================================================== - Permanent link to this press release http://wiki.ffii.org/Com050228En - European Parliament unanimously supports restart http://wiki.ffii.org/Europarl050224En - JURI asks for restart with large majority http://wiki.ffii.org/Restart050202En - Report for European Parliament concludes Commission and Council proposals simply codify the European Patent Office's US practice http://wiki.ffii.org/EPDGEcoSci050216En ======================================================================== Contact ======================================================================== Hartmut Pilch, Munich Office phm [ at ] ffii [ dot ] org tel. +49 (0)89 18979927 Erik Josefsson, Brussels Office erjos [ at ] ffii [ dot ] org tel. +32 (0)485 83 21 26 Jonas Maebe, Board Member jmaebe [ at ] ffii [ dot ] org tel. +32 (0)485 36 96 45 ======================================================================== About the FFII -- http://www.ffii.org ======================================================================== The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a non-profit association registered in several European countries, which is dedicated to the spread of data processing literacy. FFII supports the development of public information goods based on copyright, free competition, open standards. More than 500 members, 1,200 companies and 80,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual property) in data processing.