I have received the following via ALUG and pass it on for the benefit of others. Not yet the best possible news, but an important landmark! Best wishes to all, Ted. -----FW: <E1Dq8Eu-0003TP-00@terry.blackcatnetworks.co.uk>----- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 12:40:47 +0100 Sender: main-admin@lists.alug.org.uk From: Nick Daniels <nick@danielsn.freeserve.co.uk> To: main@lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] Software patents Maybe only temporary but: EU Parliament bins software patent bill In brief The European Parliament has voted by a massive majority to reject the software patents directive, formally known as the Directive on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions. The vote to scrap the bill was passed by a margin of 648 votes to 14, with 18 abstentions. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) says the rejection is a logical response to the Commission and Council's refusal to take parliament's will into consideration. Anti-software patent campaigner Florian Muller argues that today's vote was prompted by events back in February, when the parliament's committee of legal affairs, JURI, voted for a restart of the legislative process. That vote was flatly ignored by the European Commission, which decided instead to move on to a second reading. "A nightmare is over," Muller says. "Next time around, let's honestly discuss the pros and cons of pure software patents, and then we can get a great directive that won't die a dishonourable death like this." According to Muller, MEPs are divided about what should happen next. The Conservative group has called for a news proposal from teh Commission, while the Greens would like the parliamentary vote to be interpretted as a final rejection of the bill. "Before any next step, we need a period of reflection, and a proper economic policy debate. It is not like we've accomplished everything here. Ideally, we want a good directive, but at this stage no directive was the best directive we could hope for," he told us.® http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/06/eu_bins_swpat/ Regards - Nick Daniels _______________________________________________ main@lists.alug.org.uk http://www.alug.org.uk/ http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main Unsubscribe? See message headers or the web site above! --------------End of forwarded message------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 06-Jul-05 Time: 13:43:16 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------