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Europe's software patent policy under siege (Herald Tribune)
The International Herald Tribune has taken a lengthy look at the
ongoing European software patent debate. "The political storm, which
has spread to national parliaments in Germany and Denmark and provoked
questions about the EU directive in Poland and Portugal, is the latest
twist in a bitter fight between large corporations with significant
research investments and scores of patents and small and midsize software
companies, academic institutions and supporters of open source
software, who oppose software patents."
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Not giving up that easily... Posted Jul 8, 2004 10:33 UTC (Thu) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link] Gerkens said the Parliament instructed the Netherlands' state secretary to send a letter to the Council of Ministers informing it that the country had changed its vote. The Netherlands took over the presidency of the EU on July 1.But a Dutch government spokesman said that was not how Brinkhorst had in terpreted the Dutch Parliament's move. ''Mr. Brinkhorst doesn't feel obligated to change the vote from a 'yes' to an abstention in order to take into account the concerns expressed by the Dutch Parliament,'' said Joop Nijssen, a spokesman for the Dutch EU mission in Brussels who spoke on behalf of the minister. He said the minister planned to ask the European Parliament to take the Dutch Parliament's concerns into consideration when the directive comes up for a final vote. In an earlier report from Holland, I remember reading that it is not uncommon for a minister to be forced to resign after "lying to the parliament". Now, if the minister is still going to vote yes, in the face of a direct order from the parliament to abstain, perhaps the parliament would like to change to another minister? And perhaps they'd like to change *before* the vote takes place? Any Dutch opinions on this quote? Personally, I couldn't be a politician like these are, but it still makes me wonder: What kind of a person honestly has the guts to pull the same stunt twice, after having been called on it once already? And how much are these companies paying these ministers, since they are so motivated to screw their own parliaments? Oh well, I shouldn't talk. The Finnish ministers *and* parliament are all behind this, and I'm sure Nokia didn't even have to bribe anyone here. They'll do anything for Nokia. Our politicians are so kind...
Not giving up that easily... Posted Jul 8, 2004 11:25 UTC (Thu) by dmantione (guest, #4640) [Link] If the ministers ignores the parliament, he has a problem and some of theparties in the parliament will without doubt try to file a statement of distrust, (which if passes forces a minister to visit the queen to be fired there). The question in such a situation is allways wether the parties that are in goverment have enough guts to fire their own minister and support such a statement. Firing a minister is shooting with a big gun after all. Usually, the parliament threatens a minister first by letting them know they are preparing a statement of distrust and then ministers tend to become a bit more resonsive to the parliament, so it is no longer needed. I expect something like this will happen in this case. However, we'll need to have a bit of patience since the parliament went on holiday last friday.
Not giving up that easily... Posted Jul 8, 2004 12:01 UTC (Thu) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link] I'm afraid nothing of the sort will happen.The Dutch government has taken a swing to the right side of the political spectrum, and it is not known for its social engagement, its clear and concise policies, or its open debates, to name just a few things. Instead it wants to toot its horn internationally, and Brinkhorst's current point of view is a fine example of Dutch opportunism aimed at saving face, not to mention the fact that the Dutch would very much like to acquire a nice seat in the European Commission -- voting against the bigger countries is not really in their interest now. Arrogance rules in the Netherlands, folks. Not to mention ignorance -- you would not believe the idiots we have to deal with. (Allow me to say that the US citizens among you will find the Netherlands remarkably similar to the States -- only we get high every day, of course. ;-) It will be rather the Dutch minister threatening to resign if he doesn't get his way, and the Dutch coalition parties will accept his decision, probably even without much resistance. I am Dutch, by the way. ;-)
Not giving up that easily... Posted Jul 8, 2004 12:02 UTC (Thu) by jeroen (subscriber, #12372) [Link] But just be realistic, software patents isn't an issue a minister will be fired on.
Not giving up that easily... Posted Jul 8, 2004 18:16 UTC (Thu) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link] My toughts too. But on the other hand, I had not expected us to get this far anyway, so I tought it was worth asking...
Not giving up that easily... Posted Jul 8, 2004 18:36 UTC (Thu) by quintesse (subscriber, #14569) [Link] What I understood is that he and the EU representatives don't want to change the vote because that would mean "losing face". The coalition partners understand that and won't force him. But there has to be a second EU vote anyway so they're still thinking that he could hardly vote "yes" the second time around.On the other hand, lot's of things have changed since the first vote, not the least of which are 10 new member countries, so who knows how the second vote will go?
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