EU gives grudging nod to patent agreement
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| Critics say the agreement would take patent issues out of the hands of
| the democratically elected European Parliament and would make software
| patents strongly enforceable in Europe. Such criticisms led the EP to
| scrap a proposed patent directive last year, despite strong backing
| from the European Commission and large multinationals such as IBM and
| Microsoft. More or less the same groups are now backing and opposing
| the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA), according to
| industry observers.
|
| [...]
|
| He (Florian Mueller) said the resolution should serve as "a wake-up
| call" that software patents are far from a dead issue in the EU. "The EP
| is now going to say Maybe, but... instead of No to a proposal that,
| among other things, would make software patents strongly enforceable
| in Europe," he wrote.
|
| Software patents have been at the root of several high-profile,
| disruptive court cases in recent months, including lawsuits against RIM
| and Microsoft. In general, however, they are used by large companies to
| compel smaller companies to pay licensing fees, ensuring that the barriers
| to competition remain high.
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http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=54439956&rid=-50
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