[Linux-bruxelles] Re: Fourtou IPR directive: wake up!

[James Heald]

The IP enforcement directive has some fairly nasty features, but some of 
the worst of it looks to have been tamed by compromise amendments in JURI.

For instance, the sanctions for patent infringement should get lifted 
out of the directive completely.

The best place for getting involved is probably the CODE site, although 
FFII should obviously do anything it can to help.




Henrion Benjamin wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Seems that the vote on IP Rights Enforcement will be voted the 15 december
> in Strasbourg.
> 
> This directive should be rejected by the Parliament, but we need again to
> make the same effort as we did for the software patents vote.
> 
> For those who doesn't know details of the Fourtou's directive, it fixes
> the SANCTIONS FOR PATENT INFRIGMENT.
> 
> The rapporteur of the Directive is Janelly Fourtou, which was in the room
> in the Petition Comitee last month, and she strongly opposed with others
> like Rothley to ACCEPT THE EUROLINUX PETITION.
> 
> We need to attract attention of medias to that question, and raise
> pressure around this directive.
> 
> The timetable is short, but we need to setup something quickly, organising
> a mobile demo in Brussels again should be possible. It seems that many
> Free Software associations has not yet taken position on this subject, I
> encourage your association to make a good Press Release to warn about the
> dangerous effects of this directive.
> 
> Please help us to make a task force as soon as possible, I invite you to
> join the effort on the wiki page:
> 
> http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/IPEnforcementDirective
> 
> Further quotes of Microsoft and Nokia in
> http://www.computerweekly.com/Article125845.htm :
> 
> Nokia, for example, fears that by covering patents, the directive
> threatens the economic well-being of innovation-based businesses in
> Europe.
> 
> "It is vitally important that this directive strikes the right balance
> between protecting the interests of rightholders without unfairly impeding
> others from competing in the same market," claimed Tim Frain, Nokia's
> director of intellectual property.
> 
> Patent infringement is an everyday risk for innovators, and risk
> assessment is a business decision, said Frain, adding that if patent
> infringement were to be made punishable by criminal sanctions, it would
> act as a strong disincentive for executives.
> 
> Introducing such harsh remedies for good faith infringements would present
> new risks and liabilities for companies conducting bonafide business in
> Europe, he said.
> 
> Microsoft's senior legal counsel, Marie-Therese Huppertz, shares some of
> Frain's concerns. Questioning whether there should there be the same rules
> for patent infringements as for counterfeiting, she agreed that criminal
> sanctions for patent infringers may well stifle innovation.
> 
> The argument for excluding patents from the scope of the proposed law
> appears to have won over Janelly Fourtou, the European parliamentarian
> responsible for preparing the parliament's position on the proposal.
> 
> The issue of patents is complex, Fourtou said. Last month a debate in the
> European Parliament on a proposal for a law on software patents provoked
> one of the most bitter and aggressive lobbying efforts the House has ever
> seen, according to several MEPs.
> 
> Fourtou said she did not want the IP enforcement bill to get bogged down
> in a similar dispute. However, the commission's desire to include patents
> may still win the day.
> 
> 
> 
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