European Liberal Youth: time to act!
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The following press release was sent by Lymec to FFII by mail. Unlike Lymec assumes Toine Manders work in JURI was quite the opposite of what they assume and as a ALDE rapporteur responsible for the weak JURI result.
PRESS RELEASE: No to Software Patents: Time to act!
Whilst the European Parliament is readying itself to gather the 367 votes necessary to amend the Council's proposal in the second reading, scheduled to take place on 6th July, the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) calls upon ALDE MEPs to support the 21 cross-partisan compromise amendments tabled by Michel Rocard MEP and backed by Andrew Duff MEP, and to reject the directive in case these essential amendments are voted down.
Roger Albinyana i Saigi, President of LYMEC, noted: "I am disappointed by the weak results of the vote of the Legal Affairs committee on the 20 June, which proves once again the strength of pro-Software Patents lobbies such as the Business Software Alliance and of big software corporates like Microsoft. It shall be repeated that empirical studies show that software patents stifle innovation by increasing entry costs and favour large over small businesses". He added: "we should learn from the US experience and recognise that the software industry is different than others: there is no market for software components and such patents will lead to an increase of legal disputes and - as a consequence - discourage innovation".
The European Liberal Youth also supports ALDE MEP Toine Manders' proposal aiming at bringing the work of the European Patent Office (EPO) under the democratic control of the European Union. "The EPO has, in contradiction to the letter and spirit of the written law, granted tens of thousands of patents on rules for computing with conventional data processing equipment over the last years, this is simply unacceptable" stressed Roger Albinyana i Saigi, underlining that the EPO is "something from the past, another of these undemocratic intergovernmental creatures".
ENDS
If you are a journalist and would like more information, please contact Aloys Rigaut, +32 2 237 0146; office@lymec.org
ANNEXE
Background: European Liberal Youth, LYMEC, is a pan-European youth organisation seeking to promote liberal values throughout the EU and particularly through the European Liberal Democrat and Reform (ELDR) party and group in the European Parliament. With 210,000 members from 75 organisations in 41 countries, LYMEC is active across the breadth and diversity of the European continent.
The European Liberal Youth unanimously adopted a resolution against software patents at its recent Congress in Amsterdam, on 8-10 April 2005, and subsequently signed the Foundation for a Free Information and Infrastructure (FFII)'s petition against software patents. It has since then actively engaged itself in an electronic campaign against the patentability of softwares and invited the ALDE Group to follow a same line.
- For more information, click here
{http://www.lymec.org/repository/uploaded/Final%20resolutions%20-%20adopted.pdf}(page 16)
