Re: Negotiating for using Royalty Free patents

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

On Llu, 2004-04-12 at 12:10, jamie wrote:
> So in other words they are trying to bypass the democratic process? What
> scum! I cant believe my government would ever vote for that 

Its how the EU works, democracy gets in the way of their corporate 
masters and also prevents governments all blaming the EU for things they
couldnt figure how to pass in their own country.

And the UK *started* and is leading the entire software patent in europe
debacle.

> The good news is it must be their last roll
> of the dice for software patents in the EU.

No the next plan is to work it into US or WIPO trade treaties as
is currently being done in Australia.

> Thats what I understood and I believe in the end thats what we will get
> as the democratically elected members voted for that.

Well if people in the UK actually voted maybe. All the main UK parties
are pro-patent except the greens and related small country parties.
OTOH 18% of UK citizens will bother to vote in the EU election so 
every open source developer who does is worth 5 people. So UK folks
especially should get off their backsides and actually vote for free
software even if they, like most UK citizens, think the EU should die.