Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-05-Speech-2-045"
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"en.20050705.6.2-045"2
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"Mr President, the proposal for a directive by the Commission and the Council is unacceptable for a number of reasons. The most important of these is the fact that in Article 4 it does indeed prohibit the patenting of computer programs, before immediately afterwards, in Article 5, leaving the door wide open to such patents if they relate – and I quote – to ‘a programmed computer [or] a programmed computer network’. The question arises of what is really at stake here. In my opinion, what is at stake is the enormous market for software that exists in the European Union, and the establishment of a monopoly over it. What is at stake is at least several dozen billion euro. The threats posed by the unamended directive are as follows. Firstly, that the software market will be monopolised by major players from outside Europe who are powerful in financial terms. This is very dangerous for the EU in the global environment, where everyone competes with everyone else.
Secondly, that a number of small and medium-sized computer enterprises involved with software in Europe will be made bankrupt. Thirdly, that those holding the patents in, and hence the monopoly over, the services sector, by which I also mean Internet services, will dictate the prices. Fourthly and finally, that a major threat will be posed to democracy in Europe, given the importance of the Internet as a media form.
In his capacity as rapporteur, Mr Rocard has put an enormous amount of effort into getting to grips with this complex issue. His proposals defend ‘open source’ principles, which is laudable, as well as defending democracy against the dictatorship of monopolies. At this stage in the legislative process, they will result in a conciliation procedure, which I believe will give rise to the optimum solution.
Like mathematical theories and the very process of thought, software cannot be patented. What can be patented, however, are inventions created with the help of computers, and indeed this already happens. Such patents contain technical ‘independent claims’, which relate to tangible systems, and ‘dependent claims’, which are only valid in the context of a given patent, and which may include references to computers and all aspects of their operation. This field of invention, which is key in terms of the automotive, home appliances, mobile phone and other industries, for example, should however be regulated."@en1
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