[ga] Re: [Ecommerce] EUParl votes against mutual recognition of patents by EU member states]

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michelle and all,

I wonder if the EU will similarly do so with Trademarks?

Michelle Childs wrote:

> EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT VOTES AGAINST
> MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF PATENTS
> BY THE EU MEMBER STATES
>
> Anti-software patent campaigners successfully opposed a proposal
> by a pro-patent MEP that "would result in a flood of patent suits
> all over Europe, lower quality standards, and ever more software patents"
>
> Strasbourg (March 15, 2006) -- The new round of the European debate on
> patent policy has started with a first victory for anti-software patent
> campaigners. A majority of the European Parliament today voted against
> calling on the European Commission for a legislative proposal to stipulate
> the mutual recognition of national patents by the 25 member states of the
> EU. Such mutual recognition would make the patents that the national patent
> office of any EU country grants enforceable against companies in all other
> member states.
>
> The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) and Florian
> Mueller, the founder of the award-winning NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign,
> jointly lobbied MEPs to vote against the related passage of a proposed
> resolution, stressing that the mutual recognition of national patents "would
> result in a flood of patent suits all over Europe, lower quality standards,
> and ever more software patents", among other things because patent
> applicants would "shop around" to find patent offices that are most willing
> to grant patents which would then be valid in the entire EU.
>
> The call for mutual  recognition of patents that had been sponsored by Klaus
> Heiner Lehne MEP. Lehne, a German conservative, holds a job as a lobbyist
> with the law firm Taylor Wessing, which handles many cases of patent
> litigation especially in his home town of Dusseldorf and represents large
> corporations in many areas of commercial law:
> http://wiki.ffii.org/KlausHeinerLehneEn
>
> Mueller called the outcome of today's vote in the European Parliament
> "excellent news from Strasbourg". His recently started blog
> (http://www.no-lobbyists-as-such.com/florian-mueller-blog) also explains the
> voting mechanism, a so-called split vote, that prevented the text from going
> through as proposed by Lehne. Mueller published large parts of a memorandum
> that Lehne had written to other EU politicians late last year and in which
> the MEP claimed that the mutual recognition of national patents would make
> Europe more competitive. By calling on the European Commission to make a
> proposal for the mutual recognition of patents, the European Parliament
> would not have taken a final legislative decision today, but such a call
> "would have been a disappointing start for [anti-software patent
> campaigners] with respect to the EU's new patent policy initiative, and it
> would have had negative effects for the future", Mueller added.
>
> Brussels-based Benjamin Henrion of the FFII welcomes the European
> Parliament's decision because this way the parliament "keeps all options
> open for the future of the European patent system" in light of the European
> Commission's ongoing consultation on patent policy, which is preparatory to
> new legislative proposals that EU observers expect the Commission to put
> forward after the summer. Henrion said it would have been "a pity if Lehne's
> proposal had slipped through as one of 67 items of a resolution on the EU's
> Lisbon Agenda for innovation and economic policy".
>
> Rufus Pollock, director of FFII UK, calls on companies and individuals who
> are concerned about software patents to participate in the EU's consultation
> on patent policy: "Today was a great result for us, but there will be many
> more and bigger challenges ahead as the Commission prepares new proposals
> concerning patent policy. It's very important that many companies and
> individuals write to the Commission before the deadline on March 31.
> Answering the Commission's questionnaire
> (http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/indprop/patent/consultation_en.ht
> m) is tricky, but the FFII has set up a Web site
> (http://consultation.ffii.org/Downloads) that provides further explanation,
> or people can also use Florian's position paper
> (http://www.no-lobbyists-as-such.com/florian-mueller-blog/position-paper/)
> and submit it in their name."
>
> REFERENCES
>
> Today's resolution of the European Parliament was based on motion
> B6-0162/2006, which had been jointly introduced by the chairmen of the three
> largest groups in the parliament (EPP-ED, PES, ALDE).
>
> At the request of EPP-ED and ALDE, paragraph 43 was subject to a split vote.
> The proposed text without the words "small" and "mutual recognition" was
> carried, while a majority voted against proposals to insert those words.
>
> BACKGROUND INFORMATION
>
> FFII: see www.ffii.org
> Florian Mueller: http://www.no-lobbyists-as-such.com/florian-mueller.html
>
> CONTACT INFORMATION
>
> Benjamin Henrion, FFII Brussels, +32-2-4148403, bhenrion@xxxxxxxx
> Florian Mueller, +49-8151-21088, fmueller.nosoftwarepatents@xxxxxxxxx
>
> --
> Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
> Consumer Project on Technology in London
> 24, Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX,UK.
> Tel:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252.
> Mob:+44(0)790 386 4642. Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607
> http://www.cptech.org
>
> Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
> 1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA .Tel.:
> +1.202.332.2670,Fax: +1.202.332.2673
>
> Consumer Project on Technology in Geneva
> 1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
> Tel: +41 22 791 6727
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ecommerce mailing list
> Ecommerce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/ecommerce

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obediance of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
===============================================================
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
IDNS. div. of Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402
E-Mail jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Registered Email addr with the USPS
Contact Number: 214-244-4827