pcplantdb

[Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>]

Extracted http://www.ffii.org.uk/council.html which has more
details on how to write.

Dear UK Supporter[1],

The European Parliament voted in September for a clear exclusion[2] of
software from patentability, having heard powerful arguments from
economists[3], scientists[4], small business associations[5] and MEPs[6]
that software patents would be bad for e-commerce[7], bad for small
businesses[8], and bad for innovation[9].

But this vote is in danger of being set aside[10] at a meeting of the EU's
Competitiveness Council of Ministers[11] on 10 November. The ministers'
meeting is to be "negotiated" at a meeting of senior patent officials[12]
from across Europe even sooner: this Thursday 23 October.

If UK ministers cannot be convinced otherwise before 10 November, it
is believed they will push for the Council to adopt a November 2002
draft text[13], which is even worse than the infamous McCarthy
report[14]. The European Parliament's rules for second reading make it
very difficult for MEPs to fix a bad text from the Council.

So far UK ministers have been sleepwalking, automatically following a
Patent Office script.  The FFII is therefore calling for all supporters
to contact their local MPs, as soon as possible.  We have until 10 November
at the latest to wake up UK ministers up the dangers of software patents.
If at all possible we need to try to make an impact before this Thursday.

It could be our last good chance to stop software patents in Europe.

Every letter could be the one which tips the balance.

Every letter counts.


--
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