Summary: The eternal battle to win a unified/harmonised/communal patent system (lobbied for by Charlie McCreevy, amongst others under these euphemisms) makes dangerous strides that threaten Free software

EARLIER today we wrote about the Swedish presidency spearheading an attack on innovation by expanding (or lobbying to expand) the scope of patents. Patenting is of course detrimental to innovation, as many independent studies indicate [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].

The unfortunate news is that home of Charlie McCreevy and a popular destination for Microsoft lobby tourism [1, 2, 3] has its press playing along with the plot and blindly praising a system that increases litigation and damages. The Examiner (Ireland) calls it a "breakthrough" and says:

Irish companies will benefit from an EU-wide single patent system to protect their ideas and innovations.

A deal that has eluded EU ministers for decades was finally done in Brussels, establishing a cheaper, more efficient one-stop shop for patent registration in 27 countries.

President of the FFII argues that the "European Commission says that UPLS will lower the cost of a single case to 200,000EUR !!! Cheap litigation hein !!!"

They'll always find ways of daemonising those who speak truth, as opposed as those who speak for their big wallets. ⬆

"The theme, or the background music, to both of these particular directives you could see as part of, anti-globalisation, anti-Americanism, anti-big business protests --- in lots of senses, anti-the opening up of markets."

--Charlie McCreevy