Towards Blue Screen of Software Patents' Death ?

Paris, June 25th, 2012. Press release.

On July 4th, 2012, the European Parliament is expected to vote on a regulation on the unitary patent. April is calling upon action to contact MEPs, so that they table amendments that fix the flaws and issues of the project.

The current text, as agreed in December 2011 by the Commission, the Council and the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament, amounts for the European Union (EU) to waive its powers to define a patent policy for the benefit of the European Patent Office (EPO), which is not an EU body and whose governance has been highly criticised, specially with regard to its practice of granting software patents, against the letter and the spirit of European patent law.

Moreover, the implementation of this shift of powers is based on a legal architecture which raises strong doubts about its compliance with the EU treaties. Therefore, the proposal, if voted without substantial changes is likely to be nullified by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Gérald Sédrati-Dinet, voluntary counsel for April, points out: “Failing to bring mandatory corrections to this regulation, which currently lacks of checks and balances and brings some legal uncertaintie, would just demonstrate a disinterest to achieve a workable unitary patent for the EU.”.

April is proposing a set of amendments aiming to bring a legal certainty to the regulation and to fix the political issue of the governance of the European patent system.

April is calling upon action and invite eveybody to contact MEPs so that they table amendments that fix the flaws and issues of the project.

April, using LQDN's piphone, proposes a campaigning tool to call your MEPs, easily and for free.

How to act :

• A Free Call for a Europe Free of Software Patents
• Un appel gratuit pour une Europe libérée des brevets logiciels

Given the crucial importance of this topic, April « blues out » his web site until Wednesday, June 27 12h00

• “Towards Blue Screen of Sofwtare Patents' Death?”
• « Vers l'écran bleu de la mort qui tue le brevet logiciel ? »

About April

Pioneer of free software in France, April is since 1996 a major player in the democratisation and the spread of Free Software and open standards to the general public, professionals and institutions in the French-speaking world. In the digital era that is ours, it also aims to inform the public on the dangers of an exclusive appropriation ofinformation an knowledge by private interests.

The association has over 5,000 members, using or producing Free Software.

For more information, you may go to the following website: http://www.april.org/, contact us by phone at +33 178 769 280 or through our contact form.