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From: Jean-Michel POURE <jm@poure.com>
Reply-To: jm@poure.com
To: "Christian Beauprez" <beauprez@beauprez.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Patents] Retroactivity of the law
Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 16:06:47 +0200
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> The UK government (I believe acting to comply under an EU =A0treaty of so=
me
> kind) simply applied the law retroactively without any crisis of
> conscience.

In France recently, the government decided to limit the number of months pa=
id=20
to unemployed people retroactively. People appealed and the Governement los=
t=20
in court. Yesterday, the governement announced he would raise new taxes to=
=20
pay for compensation.

By definition, if you change a law retroactively, you have to pay for=20
compensation. In the case of patents on software, the compensation is the=
=20
price paid by European Companies in the next 20 years for fake patents.

Looking at the American figures:

2 billion dollars lost in court every year
x 20 years =3D 40 billion euros

The proposal of the European Commission is going to make the fortune of=20
lawyers. Lawyers must be very intelligent to ask Europe to suport such a=20
burden for nothing. These lawyers are great chess players.

Now, I realise that the main target of these lawyers are not free software =
or=20
entrepreneurs: it is Europe, they want Europe to pay the bill. How could we=
=20
not realise it before?

Regards,
Jean-Michel Pour=E9

