[wos] Europe's software patent policy under siege

[Atul Chitnis]

International Herald Tribune has this to say:

"The adoption of a European Union law on software patents could be in 
doubt after accusations of missteps and mishaps during a May 18 meeting of 
the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels.

Officials in a number of European countries say that votes cast by 
ministers during the meeting to hammer out political differences did not 
reflect the position of their governments.

Among the accusations: that the Dutch minister misinformed his national 
Parliament about the directive’s status; that a stand-in for the Danish 
minister was coerced into a ‘‘yes’’ vote; that the German minister 
accepted last-minute changes to amendments made by his own country that 
were contrary to the wishes of the government; and that the Polish 
government, which originally abstained, was not asked for its opinion when 
the final agreement was recorded."

More here:

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=528268.html

Also interesting statement that may need a correction:

"Open-source software is typically developed by programmers who volunteer
their time, is >>> commercially unlicensed <<< and is distributed without
charge on the Internet."

(">>> <<<" emphasis is mine).

Seems to imply that FOSS is unlicensed - the usual misunderstanding. 

Atul

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Atul Chitnis       | achitnis at exocore.com
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
Bangalore, India   | +91 (80) 2344-0397
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