Demo Lisbon 2004/05

Under pressure from the Portuguese government, the EU is being pushed to legalise patents on "computer-implemented" algorithms and business methods. The European Parliament voted to confirm the non-patentability of software in September 2003, with support from portuguese MEPs from most parties. However the Portuguese government is currently ignoring the voices of most programmers and economists Instead, the government is allowing its patent administrators to overthrow the Parliament's decision through a backroom negotiation process in the Council. By organising a demonstration, press conference and study conference we want to throw the light of public scrutiny on the questionable backroom dealings of Portuguese politicians in Brussels and give this subject the weight which it deserves in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. Targets of the march may include government buildings, patent institutions, party headquarters and headquarters of some of the companies and trade associations that have left their decisions to corporate patent lawyers and allowed them to speak in their name against the interests of Portugal's software innovators.

Annotated Links

Annotated Links

Portugal and Software Patents: Portugal, a nation whose citizens own none of the 30,000 software patents granted by the EPO as of summer 2003, has formed a "national consensus" in favor of software patents and of the EU directive proposal. This consensus was reached by a consultation exercise conducted by the Portuguese Patent Office (INPI) in 2001. Back then the INPI sent a pro-software-patent letter to 33 senior corporate executives, and received 6 responses, all of which applaud the INPI viewpoint. In summer 2003 MEP Ilda Figueiredo conducted another hearing which showed a large consensus of portuguese software companies against software patents. Impressed by this, INPI launched a second round of consultations.
Legislation Benchmarking Conference Brussels 2004/04/28-9: FFII is organising a conference in Brussels in April which will scrutinise current proposals for legislation on the limits of patentability with regard to software, measuring their effect on sample patents and model cases.
WebDemo Against Software Patents: The economic policy speaker of the Austrian People's Party and of the European People's Party in the European Parliament, MEP Othmar Karas, wrote a letter to responsible members of the Austrian government two weeks before these "instructions" came out, in which he explained why the European Patent Office's practise is an unacceptable model and asked the ministery to follow the decision of the European Parliament. As of 2004/05/05 (when the "instructions" came out), there had been no response.