PRESS RELEASE FFII -- [ Europe / economy / ICT ]
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EP tables new amendments against software patents for plenary
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Brussels, 1 July 2005 -- Members from all political sides are showing
their support for 21 new amendments to the European software patent
directive. The European Parliament is clearly readying itself to
gather the required 367 votes to amend the Council's proposal in the
second reading, scheduled to take place on July 6th.
Mr Rocard, the rapporteur and former prime minister of France, has
tabled the amendments in the name of the PSE group. The amendments
have also been tabled by the IND/DEM (with one small change), the
Greens/EFA and the GUE/NGL groups. They are also tabled by prominent
representatives of the ALDE and EPP-ED groups.
Members of the European People's Party (EPP-ED) Zuzana Roithova (Czech
Republic) and former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek have tabled the
21 amendments providing a platform for an alternative position within
their party. The situation is similar to what happened during the EP's
first reading, when the Finnish Piia-Noora Kauppi MEP successfully
challenged the official EPP party line.
The official EPP party line contains far-reaching proposals to impose
heavy burdons on SMEs under the label "reasonable and
non-discriminatory" (RAND) licenses, as well as continued legal
uncertainty as to whether European courts will be able to reject
already granted US-style European software patents.
The same set of 21 amendments has also been tabled by MEP Andrew Duff
"and others". This means that at least 37 members of the ALDE group
are now officially showing their support for the clear "no software
patents" recommendation of the European Liberal Youth association.
Any amendment to be adopted in the second reading will require strong
support. The reason is that for an amendment to pass, it requires
support from a majority of the "component members" of the parliament,
which is 367 MEPs. In practice, this means that every "abstain" vote
will be a vote in favour of the Council text. Therefore, all MEPs will
actively support one position or the other with each and every vote
they cast (or do not cast).
On a related note, the Economic-Majority.com initiative against
software patents almost doubled its support since the official launch
on Monday last week. The platform now represents over 1,650 companies
employing almost 30,000 people and with a turnover of about 3.2
billion euro, with new companies joining daily. The website also
already features 66 individual testimonies in which business owners
explain how software patents would affect their enterprise.
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Background information
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* Goals of the most important amendments
http://wiki.ffii.org/AmPlenSummary05En
* Explanations of the most important amendments
http://wiki.ffii.org/AmPlenExplanation05En
* Tabled amendments and analyses
http://www.ffii.org/amend
* Economic-Majority.com
http://www.economic-majority.com
* Permanent link to this press release
http://wiki.ffii.org/AmPlenPr050701En
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Contact information
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Erik Josefsson
FFII Brussels Representative
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
+32-484-082063
Rufus Pollock
FFII UK
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
+44-1223-690423
Gérald Sédrati-Dinet
Vice President FFII
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
+33-6-60-56-36-45
Hartmut Pilch and Holger Blasum
FFII Munich Office
[EMAIL PROTECTED] org
+49-89-18979927
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About FFII -- http://www.ffii.org
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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. The FFII
supports the development of public information goods based on
copyright, free competition, open standards. More than 500 members,
1,400 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. The FFII maintains
offices in Munich and Brussels and national supporter groups in most
European countries.
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