Dutch Parliament Tells Minister To Stop Supporting Software Patents

from the good-move dept

Back in May we had the story of how the EU Council Ministers, despite tons of protest, had brokered a backroom deal to approve an incredible backwards looking proposal on accepting software patents. Apparently, the Dutch Minister went back to his own Parliament and described the new proposal as a "compromise" rather than a one-sided ruling that ignored almost all of the complaints about problems with the proposal. Found on Dave Farber's Interesting People list comes the news that the Dutch Minister has now admitted his explanation of the proposal was a mistake, which he somehow blames on an "an error in the word processor." If someone believes that an error in a word processor can lead to him saying something that is completely untrue about a proposed law that would seriously impact the country's ability to innovate, you have to wonder why this guy has any power to vote on such laws at all. Thankfully, the Dutch Parliament seems to agree, and have told him to change his vote and no longer support the proposal. So far, this story doesn't seem to be getting much attention other than this one mention, however, so I'm wondering if there are others who can confirm this is what actually happened. I've found one version at DMEurope that seems to pretty much repeat the original press release, but nothing else.

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