Software-patent directive again in European Parliament
Could native speakers please review and comment on this text
it is about preventation of software patents in the european union
Software-patent directive again in European Parliament
The Software-patent directive will com ?for a second reading in the
European Parliament. By the end of June follows the poll concerning this
directive. The first time that this directive has been addressed, many
question raised. FNV Zelfstandige Bondgenoten has the opinion that the
directive should not be adopted. Software patents make developing
software - including for niche markets - for independent software
developers no longer feasible.
History
The Commission for legal matters (JURI) of the European Parliament has
agreed on 2 February with major majority to do again the negotiation
process concerning the controversial software-patent directive.
This prevented that the software-patent directive, which is based very
much on the American situation, would be adopted. The disadvantage of
this is that American and Japanese companies have many patents and
European companies do not. Besides that, to get hold over and maintain a
patent requires a lot of endurance and much money. Independent software
developers will not be able to do this, even if they have been granted
patents.
Actions
Meanwhile 350,000 European ICT-ers signed a petition against the planned
directive. FNV Zelfstandige Bondgenoten together with FNV Bondgenoten
and the European Trade Union take action in this matter. More
information is to find on http://www.ict.fnv.nl/. Interests of employees
and independent deevelopers appear not compatible. Philips, a large
employer in ICT is proponent of the directive.
Opponents of the directive
The planned directive has bizar and far-reaching impact. For example
will it be possible to patent a certain kind of Internet site, for
example a condeleance-site. But also, a button with a Question-mark on
it could be patented.
Always having to check software for patents and patent-costs makes
software expensive, and tailor-made software can get too expensive for
smaller organisations and institutions. For this reason also
consumer-organisations and SME-organisations are against the directive.
The planned directive has for European terms bizarre and far-reaching
impact, because also a certain type of Internet site can be patented,
for example the condeleance on Internet, also on for example knopje with
a question sign can a patent rest. Constant verifying software on at and
monitoring patents costs eventually much money, makes software expensive
and makes a tailor-made job for smaller organisations and institutions
invaluable. For this reason also consumer groups and SMES are against
this directive.
Possible outcomes
It is the task of the parliament now, to come to a good and feasible
decision concerning the directive. But because it is now in the
Parliament for second reading, the possibility remains open that the
initially formulated directive is adopted unaltered. This happens if too
few parlementariers which want the directive to be amended or rejected
(so that there an entirely new proposal can be developed) show up
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