The parliament has just kicked them into touch.

The Good: Richard Allan reenters the fray which is doubly good, as I don’t understand why lib/dem MEPs…

Thank you for your efforts to persuade Liberal Democrat MEPs to vote against software patents, which may be legalised by the present form of the European CII directive.

I am a Chartered IT Professional with over 30 years’ experience, and I run my own business which specialises in free, libre and open source software (FLOSS) solutions for local SMEs. I have also been a Liberal Democrat supporter for may years, and voted for Andrew Duff in the last two Euro elections. The party’s stance on software patents was an important factor in casting my European vote.

I am deeply disappointed by the European LibDem’s stance on the CII Directive, and conveyed my concern to Diana Wallis via Richard Grayson, our local candidate. I have also written to Andrew Duff to explain why the Directive in its present form will *not* protect my interests, since I cannot afford the costs of continual patent searches or indemnifying my customers against future patent infringements.

As a FLOSS supporter, part of my time goes in collaborating over the Internet with others to develop free software that we use in common. (Actually in my case it’s more reporting bugs than writing code, but all the same it’s collaboration!). I do not know of a single FLOSS developer who supports the concept of software patents, and while I’ve heard of pro-patent organisations that claim to represent SMEs, on inspection these turn out to be funded by large businesses as well as smaller ones.

I very much hope hat your efforts to persuade MEPs of the harm caused by allowing software patents will be successful Please let me know if I can help in any way.

Best regards,

John Ingleby
************
Director,
CoroNet Information Systemns Ltd.
Kings Langley, UK
http://www.coronet.co.uk