[Discussioni] Call to action for core anti-swpat activists across Europe: restart your engines now

[Francesco Potorti]

In allegato, il "post-hearing briefing document" che descrive il
problema.

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Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:08:02 +0200
From: Florian Mueller <fmueller.nosoftwarepatents a googlemail.com>
Subject: Call to action for core anti-swpat activists across Europe: restart your engines now

In the fight against the swpat directive, the virtual pan-European network
of activists made all the difference.  In all EU member states with probably
the sole exception of Malta, there was at least some level of anti-swpat
activity.  In certain countries, there were greater breakthroughs than in
others, but that is not always a question of the quality of the work done by
local activists: in some places there were better chances of making things
happen.

Some of you may still remember how Simon Gentry wrote, shortly after the EP
asked for a restart of the legislative process concerning swpats, that he
felt disadvantaged because of our vast resources :-)

On July 12, by saying he asked his staff to move forward with the EPLA,
commissioner McCreevy threw down the gauntlet, and only a very few of us
have picked it up yet.  For the first time in more than a year, the EP is
once again looking at a decision on patent policy, and even though it's a
resolution that has no immediate legislative effect, it's still a very
essential part of the opinion-forming and, ultimately, decision-making
process.

In terms of the "legalization" of swpats, the EPLA is similarly bad as the
swpat directive would have been, but it's about patents in general and, if
it were to be ratified, would come with a number of additional negative
effects.

I can imagine all too well that, after years of fighting against the swpat
directive, it's not really an intriguing idea for people to familiarize
themselves once again with a legislative project and devote time to a
political effort.  But if you still care about swpats, it's inevitable to do
so.  And if you're going to (have to) do it anyway, *now* is a good time to
get started again to some extent.

In less than four weeks, the EP is going to vote on its patent policy
resolution (week of Sep 25).

Next Wednesday at 11 AM, the legal policy advisers of the various EP groups
and MEPs specialized in patent policy will get together to discuss the
possibility of a joint text that would serve as a basis for the envisioned
resolution (groups would still get to file their own amendments in addition,
but the inter-group text would be the starting point).

Those of you who enjoy particularly good relationships with MEPs from their
country should get going again.  It's not yet the time for all of us to talk
to all MEPs -- it's the time for a few of us (but more than just Benjamin
and me) to talk to those MEPs who take a particular interest in patent
policy.  If you know some MEPs so well that you can call them in Strasbourg
on Tuesday and ask them and/or their assistants to attend the Wednesday 11
AM meeting (for details they should ask the legal policy adviser of their
group), that would be great.  If anyone needs details, Benjamin and I will
both be in Strasbourg and are available to talk.

The post-hearing briefing document that I posted to this list yesterday (and
in a slightly optimized fashion again today) is a good starting point for
getting over the learning curve.  In particular, it contains lots of links
to external documents that are worth reading (related to the EPLA, the
Commission hearing etc.).  You can also forward it to MEPs as you see fit,
and if anyone volunteers to translate it to his language, that will always
be appreciated.

I really hope there's going to be some more activity this month.  If we
don't take action now, things will only get harder later on in the process.

Florian
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