Re: ES-PTO seminar 2002/05/06-7: Innovation in the Net

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

> In spite of this typical patent orifice setup, the seminar may not be as
> extremely biased as the UKPO seminar in Brussels in June 19
>
>       http://swpat.ffii.org/conferences/ukpo-2002/
>
> and does seem to leave some room for participation by people who do not
> fit into the pre-conceived channels and roles.

Maybe not.

It seems that we have here a pure software patent propaganda setup with
participation by well-selected people from GD Internal Market (Anthony
Howard), UNICE (swpat cheerleaders in the consultation, a stronghold of
patent lawyers who claim to represent the whole european industry), EPO,
ES-PTO, AT-PTO (together with CH-PTO and UK-PTO the most reactionary in
these matters) and spanish ministry officials.  Mr. Madero from DG
Competition, whom we know from the Eurolinux press conference, is the only
person who may be bringing in a different perspective, but DG Competition
has in any case already been bullied into accepting the DGIM/BSA directive
proposal. so they are unlikely to say anything critical.  Moreover, there
seems to be little time for discussion or other forms of exposition of
other viewpoints.  Although the seminar is also about trademarks and
copyright, it is clear that its politically sensitive topic is swpat.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
115,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/