Video download link | md5sum 8b6a561f07ff627ef388a3271042c268 Derailing the Patent Maximalism Lobby Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: A call for participation by readers, seeing that the EFF quit doing activism in this domain and the 'Patent Maximalism Lobby' makes some gains by misleading 'our' politicians

LAST night we said we'd start releasing more information about patents, especially European software patents and the EPO, which wants to grant far more of them (we've shown leaked documents to that effect).

At the moment we need help from readers who are based in the EU and can contact their representatives, many of whom don't know much or don't talk -- let alone comment -- on these issues (or merely pretend to know and to care).

This post will be one of several as we prefer not to compromise still-ongoing engagements with politicians.

One person has asked: "If the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is illegal because a) it strictly requires the UK to be within the EU to sign and b) there are various constitutional issues confirmed by courts, then which source for (a) and (b)?"

As a first step, what is at stake?

We've attempted to put this clearly and concisely. This is what we came up with:

What are the key points?

1) Unified Patent Court (UPC) is illegal because:

1a) it strictly requires the UK signing (but it cannot because it left the EU) 1b) it causes various constitutional issues, some of which confirmed by courts already 1c) there was no legitimate economic analysis; it was fabricated a long time ago and those who perpetrated this fraud even said they refuse to allow any further analyses (as that would help their opponents)

Which one or two constitutional issues are more problematic? The European Parliament has a committee dedicated specifically to constitutional matters so this might be relevant to bring to them.

Hungary took this to court. It was ruled unconstitutional. We covered this many times, including 4 years ago (both 1a and 1b). Don't let this be forgotten.

Other points to bring up

2) The European Patent Convention of 1973 protects software from patents 3) Software is managed via copyright 4) Software patents kill innovation [citation needed, e.g. Prof. Bessen, Boston University; Prof. Mark Lemley, Stanford University]

What else?

A lot more, but one must be very concise. At least try to get the politicians interested in the matter without overwhelming them (or it can become a perceived chore to them).

Who to explain these points to?

Here is the list of people, some of whom you may recognise as coming from your country. Party affiliations are not listed below, but names and contact details are included in the corresponding 'pages' (JavaScript):

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197475/CHRISTINE_ANDERSON/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197448/RASMUS_ANDRESEN/home (sub ITRE)

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/132191/GUNNAR_BECK/home (sub AFCO)

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197437/NICOLA_BEER/home (sub ECON)

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197408/HILDEGARD_BENTELE/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197410/STEFAN_BERGER/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197449/MICHAEL_BLOSS/home

INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/4267/UDO_BULLMANN/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197434/MARTIN_BUSCHMANN/home

AFET https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96739/REINHARD_BUTIKOFER/home (sub INTA)

INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28219/DANIEL_CASPARY/home

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/86793/ANNA_CAVAZZINI/home

sub AFCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197473/CHRISTIAN_DOLESCHAL/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28226/CHRISTIAN_EHLER/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96852/CORNELIA_ERNST/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197430/ENGIN_EROGLU/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96842/ISMAIL_ERTUG/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1917/MARKUS_FERBER/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197480/NICOLAUS_FEST/home

AFCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/106936/DANIEL_FREUND/home

sub IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/229352/MALTE_GALLEE/home

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/183916/ALEXANDRA_GEESE/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96833/JENS_GEIER/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124807/JENS_GIESEKE/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197443/ANDREAS_GLUCK/home

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197444/SVENJA_HAHN/home (sub INTA)

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197457/HENRIKE_HAHN/home

INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197481/MAXIMILIAN_KRAH/home (sub ECON)

INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197481/MAXIMILIAN_KRAH/home

INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1909/BERND_LANGE/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197483/SYLVIA_LIMMER/home

sub INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124806/DAVID_MCALLISTER/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/4289/ANGELIKA_NIEBLER/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197465/NIKLAS_NIENAS/home (sub AFCO)

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197466/JUTTA_PAULUS/home

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28224/MARKUS_PIEPER/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/188945/DENNIS_RADTKE/home

sub ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197488/GUIDO_REIL/home

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/229839/RENE_REPASI/home (sub ECON)

ITRE https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/206158/MANUELA_RIPA/home (sub INTA)

sub ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/190517/MARTIN_SCHIRDEWAN/home

INTA, AFCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96646/HELMUT_SCHOLZ/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124837/JOACHIM_SCHUSTER/home

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28223/ANDREAS_SCHWAB/home

ECON https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197425/RALF_SEEKATZ/home (sub INTA)

INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197426/SVEN_SIMON/home (sub AFET, sub ECON)

sub AFCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124834/MARTIN_SONNEBORN/home

AFET https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197451/VIOLA_VON+CRAMON-TAUBADEL/home

IMCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197429/MARION_WALSMANN/home

AFET https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197489/BERNHARD_ZIMNIOK/home

ITRE, IMCO, sub INTA https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/128483/MARKUS_BUCHHEIT/home

AFCO https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197439/DAMIAN_BOESELAGER/home (sub ECON, sub ITRE)

If you contact them, please try to keep it short, amicable, exceedingly polite, and straight to the point. They always claim they're very busy, so they need to be 'spoon-fed' information.

Many people, myself included, are cynical about how politicians 'represent' us, but it's better to try than not to try (I already started days ago). Yours truly is thankful that here in Europe we still have multiple political parties and people we can all contact to scrutinise power, unlike in China for instance.

If you need further information on what to tell them (or respond with), come and chat with us in IRC. We can give references aplenty. ⬆