Bonum Certa Men Certa

Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier and Polish Presidency Named and Shamed for Patent Policy

Flag polish



Summary: The Polish Presidency needs to be pressured by Polish citizens in order for it not to support the plot of Michel Barnier, who might import software patents into Europe

"The patent microcosm wants software patents outside of the European Court of Justice," alerts the president of the FFII, pointing to this new page which says:



The blog of the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW) is interesting in many respects. For example it was the only place were, during Summer 2010, the opinion of the Advocates General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the incompatibility of the proposed European Patent Court System with European Treaty Law was leaked. Recently, it was also the first place where the "non paper" of the Commission services about proposed solutions for a Unified Patent Litigation System was published. But here we want to focus on a series of posts on this blog, an exchange of views between two prominent members of EPLAW. Beside the opportunity to benefit from the take of of professional legal analysts about the opinion of ECJ on the incompatibility of the envisaged unified patent litigation system with European Union (EU) Treaties, reviewing this series of posts helps to understand what kind of patent system the "patent microcosm" hopes for, and what kind of alternative is the deepest fear of its members. Finally, now that Commission and Council have discussed some options about a unified patent litigation system, we can weight influence of the patent microcosm on EU institutions.


"Software patents granted by the EPO will come back under the plans of the Community Patent or the EPLA," quotes/claims the same person in relation to another document. Taking stock of this page, he implicitly argues that the east-European nations don't stop advertising the abomination which is the "EU patent" (we saw more of that before, e.g. Czech Republic, even Sweden):

Polish Presidency will push for software patents through the backdoor


Over in France, Free software activists name and shame Barnier for his irresponsible acts (read what we wrote here, here, here, and here for context). See this new page from April, which says:

On March 10th 2011, the Commission and the Council of the European Union rejoiced in a press release about the decision taken in the morning by the Council, to authorize "an enhanced cooperation among Member States for the creation of a unitary patent title". But these fine statements were shattered by the next press conference: questions from a couple of reporters regarding a decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union on the very same subject embarrassed, at the very least, Commissioner Barnier. The deciphering of this Council meeting gives us the opportunity to explain this complex but essential issue in the fight against software patents, in which April is engaged.


According to this new report, Amazon is not done trying to harm Europe with software patents, as we showed before. To quote The Register:

A payment system devised by online retail giant Amazon is too obvious to patent, the European Patent Office (EPO) has ruled.

Amazon had hoped to patent the way its customers pay for products through the click of a single webpage button. The company was previously granted patent rights to the payment system in the US.

An appeals board at the EPO ruled that the "one-click" method was too obvious as it relied on existing inventions, called "prior art" in patent law. Inventions must be new, take an inventive step that is not obvious and be useful to industry to qualify for patent protection.

The ruling backed the findings of a previous EPO examination into Amazon's application.


Amazon pays Mirosoft for Linux. This happened after Amazon had hired many former Microsoft managers, to whom Amazon was just a next-door employer.

We must stay vigilant in light of these attempts to push software patents into Europe. The EU is a sort of bridge which can prevent the rest of the world from being polluted by USPTO-style patents.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Father of GNU Giving Keynote Talk Today, Father of Linux Collaborating With Linus Tech Tips (LTT)
Some time soon we can expect Linus Tech Tips (LTT) / Linus Media Group / Linus Gabriel Sebastian to produce something with Torvalds
LLM Slop is an Addiction One Can Quit
Sites that crossed over to "the dark side" (slop) can still return, and even fully regain the trust lost by betraying people with 'botspew'.
BILD is Apparently Covering Up Cocaine Use at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the European Patent Office, as It's Based on Germany
Journalist contact details
 
German Media and German Politicians: Working for the Public or Manipulating the Public?
The "common person" does not have printing presses
Informing the Public of Suppressed Facts
We are all in this together
Canadian Linus Meets Finnish-American Linus
LTT does have a very large audience, which it can steer away from Microsoft and Windows
The UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) Discourages Technological Entities, Including Free Software Projects, Being Based in or Near the UK
When it comes to IRC hosting, we never had any serious speech restrictions imposed upon us by the UK
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, November 15, 2025
Gemini Links 16/11/2025: Emacs Font Fun and UI x TUI x CLI
Links for the day
Flagging or Labelling LLM Slop Meaningfully to Discourage the Practice
We're still refining the annotation for better contrast
Techrights Site Search Pushed to 'Stable'
we've just added it to the navigation menu and footer
Situation Publishing's DevClass (Sister Site of The Register MS, Run by MS Tim) Has Been Abandoned, Microsoft's MS Tim Now Interjects Anti-Linux Directly Into The Register MS
Not only does this sell Microsoft; it's also googlebombing - as before - the real "maui" (or "MauiKit" in Linux).
Many IBM Workers to Become Unemployed a Few Weeks - Maybe Just Days - Before Christmas
as one last humiliating exercise IBM pimps/trots them out in social control media, telling "happy" stories
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, WebProNews, and Linux Journal (Slopfarms)
More fake articles about "Linux"
Links 15/11/2025: Openwashing of Kubernetes and Austerity Planned for Canada
Links for the day
Links 15/11/2025: "Small Web, Big Voice" and China Cracking Down on Slop
Links for the day
Links 15/11/2025: Science, Conflicts, and International Politics
Links for the day
Annus Horribilis at the European Patent Office (EPO)
The article explains how the EPO "Cocainegate" scandal is turning 2025 into an Annus Horribilis for Campinos
Links 15/11/2025: Latest in "Component Abuse Challenge" and Qt Keeps Promoting LLM Slop
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/11/2025: Egoism, Misunderstood Universe, DeX, and "Why desktop Linux is growing"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, November 14, 2025
Richard Stallman Talk Tomorrow in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress 2
It's not clear if a livestream of some kind will exist
Many "Last Days" at IBM on Allegedly the "Last Day" for IBM to RA People This Quarter
"Last day" is "social media code" for "got laid off", more so at IBM because they compel people to act like it's a happy departure with gratitude, photos and so on
Slopwatch: Almost a Majority of Google News is Now Slopfarms (Fake Sites, Fake Articles)
Google News is noise
Gemini Links 14/11/2025: Boredom, "Twenty Percent Cooler", and Moving From Windows to Artix
Links for the day
Links 14/11/2025: YouTube's Trap for Publishers, Lack of Accountability a Growing Legal Matter/Concern
Links for the day
Many Times in the Past We Said That Microsoft Lunduke Was Becoming a Spokesperson/Voice for - and Occasionally Weaponising - 4Chan. He's Proving Us Right This Week.
Stay away
The Register MS is Profiting From Pyramid Schemes Run by Americans
We cannot help but feel disgusted by what this publisher became
IBM: Hiring, Then Disposing of, Unpaid or Low-Paid European Staff to Spread or Play Up Buzzwords and Hype
Like Google With "Summer of Code", this seems like a low-cost marketing stunt more than anything substantial
Casual Reminder That We Also Publish GNU/Linux Stories and News Coverage in Tux Machines
Without trust in our robustness (including fearlessness, not just success in protecting stories and sources) we'd not have come this far, nor would I devote my life to it
The Europe Conversation: The EPO Has Cocaine at the High-Level Management and Isn't Denying It
Now we plan to ensure the matter is properly documented in European press
Links 14/11/2025: Goddard Space Center Abused by the White House, Jeffrey Epstein Scandal Expands (Cheetos Need Distraction)
Links for the day
Corporate Media Helps IBM Relay Vapourware (Misinformation/Fake News)
They compensate with words for a lack of compelling products
Hacking on Recipes
Maybe, in due course perhaps, we can also release some of our own cooking recipes or "forks"
Web Searches Far Too Polluted, Gamed by LLM Slop and "Plagiarised Information Synthesis Systems" (PISS)
old articles are already getting difficult to find in mainstream search engines, even if they are still online
Privacy-respecting Metasearch Engine SearX/SearXNG Still Jailed by Microsoft
The official site and code still sadly controlled by Microsoft
"AI" is a Lie. It Always Was. What They Call "AI" Is Not.
This MSM does no favours to the economy
Our First Week of Our Twentieth Year
My wife and I have had a very productive week here and in Tux Machines
Links 14/11/2025: Sleep Research, France to Suspend Pension 'Reform' Law, and Linux Foundation's Latest Openwashing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/11/2025: KDE vs XFCE and Leaving the Web
Links for the day
Google Admits It Lost Control of Slop (While Google Itself is Selling Slop, Currently Under the Name "Gemini" Instead of "Bard")
Slop is nothing to be celebrated
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, November 13, 2025
Mozilla Handed Over Control Over Firefox to Microsoft, Now Firefox is Preloaded With Microsoft Spyware and It's Proprietary
Who would still want to download Firefox?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Brian Fagioli, and WebProNews
becoming a slopfarm is a site's suicide
"Sponsored Posts" in The Register MS
That's The Register MS in 2025
IBM RAs in India (Apparently)
IBM is a bad place to work
Another Richard Stallman Talk in Two Days
His talk will be a remote talk, as he won't be travelling to Argentina