[Patents] French State secretary for Industry against SoftPat

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

> B. LANG's (des)information was objected by State secretary :
>
> "Il a bien dit qu'il =E9tait pour le d=E9veloppement du logiciel libre, m=
ais les
> termes repris par les journalistes concernant les brevets ne sont pas tou=
t =E0
> fait exacts", temp=E8re l'entourage de Christian Pierret.

This says that some counsellors around Mr Pierret are saying that the
French Informatics Journal quoted Mr Pierret in a way that may have given
rise to misunderstandings.  It doesn't say that he was misquoted, either
by Informatique or by B. Lang.  I guess that the patent departments of
Alcatel, France Telecom, Thomson, Microsoft/IBM France and others have a
strong lobby in the French government.  But some people within the
government, as elswhere, are starting to realise that these people are
paper tigers, backed by a quasi-religious patent movement but not by
the industry they claim to represent (and whose money by some rather
incidental circumstances often happens to be controlled in their hands).
Government officials know meanwhile that this whole lobby will collapse
and their constituency will turn against them, once the issue is taken out
into a wide-open public debate.  But of course it has to be done
cautiously, step by step.

> Pierre BREESE
> >
> > " The Administration faster on-line thanks to free software "
> >
> > Christian Pierret,  State secretary for Industry.
> >
> > " I already supported personally open-source software, notably at the
> > university of Metz. I am glad to see French publishers of free
> > software like MandrakeSoft be successful in the United States. I
> > support Linux and free software, because they allow faster and more
> > robust development to put the Administration on-line.  While
> > commercial software raise the issue of computer security, since one
> > does not know what is inside.  This is why I am against software
> > patenting in Europe.  It would kill innovation and reinforce
> > litigation terrorism, because commercial software multinational
> > corporations would multiply legal actions against start-ups. "
> >
> >
> > Translated by B. Lang from:
> >
> > 01 Informatique, N=B0 1626, 23 mars 2001, page 51
> >
> >
> > =AB L'Administration plus vite en ligne gr=E2ce au logiciel libre =BB
> >
> > Christian Pierret,  secr=E9taire d'Etat =E0 l'Industrie.
> >
> > =AB J'ai d=E9j=E0 apport=E9 mon soutien personnel au logiciel libre,
> > notamment =E0 l'universit=E9 de Metz.  Je suis heureux de voir des
> > =E9diteurs fran=E7ais de logiciels libres come MandrakeSoft s'illustrer
> > aux Etats-Unis.  Je suis un d=E9fenseur de Linux et du logiciel libre,
> > car ils permettent un d=E9veloppement plus rapide et plus robuste pour
> > la mise en ligne de l'Administration.  Tandis que les logiciels
> > commerciaux posent la question de la s=E9curit=E9 informatique, puisque
> > l'on ne sait pas ce qu'ils renferment.  C'est pourquoi je suis contre
> > la brevetabilit=E9 des logiciels en Europe.  Elle tuerait l'innovation
> > et renforcerait le terrorisme juridique, car les multinationales du
> > logiciel commercial multiplieraient les proc=E8s envers les jeunes
> > pousses. =BB
> >
>
>
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