Treaties and so-called 'free' trade agreements are an effective tool for large-scale policy laundering. EU economies have been hurt by such deals that serve the super-rich (heads of corporations) at the expense of everyone else. It's time to do something about it. Activism is desperately needed.
The German government has spoken out against the EPO's disregard of the law. Gérald Sédrati-Dinet (of APRIL, based in France), who has been watching software patents in Europe, says "the only beneficiary from #UnitaryPatent and #UPC is the #PatentMicrocosm" which of course includes the EPO. The patent lawyers are a parasitical element which impedes innovation and taxes everything.
"EU economies have been hurt by such deals that serve the super-rich (heads of corporations) at the expense of everyone else."What we need is for people to start speaking out against the parasites, that's all. Citing this article, "Danes may well have a referendum on the European Unitary Patent Court as it's been judged as giving up sovereignty," writes Loz Kaye, Leader of Pirate Party UK. Here in the UK, a new bill is being passed and a fellow Brit, Dr. Glyn Moody, cites the Open Rights Group while showing (in his own words) "New powers to enable the UK to implement the Unitary Patent Court Agreement" (not just in the UK, either).
Unless people know that this is happening, activists remain weak in opposing these moves. We must really do more to drive away the Unitary Patent as an initiative or even a concept/idea (it keeps coming up with different names/brands). It is not even constitutional, some argue (in previous incarnations when it was known as Community Patent), or simply adverse to the treaty upon which the continental union is based.
Opposing patent law is not illegal; it's not even qualifying as civil disobedience, not yet anyway. Patents are all about protectionism; the less of them we have, the less power those already in power (and their assistants) will have. In a world where consensus or public opinion endorses software patents it will be harder to reform the system; right now the issue is mostly compartmentalised (in the US). At the very least we should keep it compartmentalised (i.e. prevent it from expanding/spreading) and ideally we should work to reform the misaligned compartment (USPTO) with its cross-border lobbies. ⬆