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Poland Erases EU's Pro-Software Patent Majority 46

Posted by timothy on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:54PM from the you-forgot-poland dept.

Algorithm wrangler writes "It looks like there is no longer a majority for software patents in the EU. Yay to our Polish friends - glad you made it in ... Now we can just hope for a bigger push in my own country too (the Danish minister got fried over this issue recently)."

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Poland Erases EU's Pro-Software Patent Majority

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YFL (Score:1, Funny)

by JHromadka ( 88188 ) writes:

Looks like the software patent people forgot about Poland.
- Re:Don't forget (Score:2)
  
  by E_elven ( 600520 ) writes:
  
  The polish reversed their earlier notation.
  - - Re:Don't forget (Score:2)
      
      by RWerp ( 798951 ) writes:
      
      Not so soon, as the constitution will take more than a year to be ratified by all 25 states and come into effect, if ratified (it's still far from certain). Plus, the difference really isn't that big.
Don't Forget Poland! (Score:3, Insightful)

by jkujawa ( 56195 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:57PM (#10843966) Homepage

They did well on the whole Engima thing, too.

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Fired or Fried? (Score:2)

by SpaceLifeForm ( 228190 ) writes:

Inquiring minds want to know.
I vote against software patents (Score:1)

by Free_Trial_Thinking ( 818686 ) writes:

I vote against software patents. (I just wanted to voice one small opinion.)
US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:1)

by davidwr ( 791652 ) writes:

How long before Big Business makes Washington impose economic sanctions on Poland and is friends for daring to defy the will of the Almighty Corporate Hemogony?
- Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)
  
  by Halo1 ( 136547 ) writes:
  
  The nice thing is that several big businesses support Poland's decision (such as Sun, Novel and HP). From the parties present at the ministry meeting, more or less only Microsoft and a couple of patent lawyers were opposed (surprise).
  - Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)
    
    by RWerp ( 798951 ) writes:
    
    If Microsoft did not succeed in making Polish government back software patents directive, this is a welcome change. In the past, Microsoft was very influential in Poland.
- Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)
  
  by nusratt ( 751548 ) writes:
  
  what's "Hemogony"?
  something that one eats with "grits"?
- Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)
  
  by linuxhansl ( 764171 ) writes:
  
  That'd be quite interesting with the EU being the stronger economic power.
  The Bush administration already backed off from steel-tarifs when the EU (backed by the WTO) imposed sanctions on US imports this year. (Of course that's nothing you hear much about in the US news)
  Thankfully the EU is a place that is not arbitrarily kicked around by the US anymore, though the Europeans may not quite realize that, yet... In time they will.
That clinches it (Score:2)

by aelbric ( 145391 ) writes:

Screw Canada. If the Poles support relaxed copyrights with a sensible time duration, I am moving there. Sounds like at least one government has its head on its shoulders.

3.98:1 exchange for Polish zloty to the dollar, 200 miles from Munich, 700 from Amsterdam, and I hear they have cheap broadband internet access. Sounds good to me.
- Re:That clinches it (Score:4, Interesting)
  
  by Gadzinka ( 256729 ) writes: <rrw@hell.pl> on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:48PM (#10844539) Journal
  
  3.98:1 exchange for Polish zloty to the dollar
  
  Actually, according to Polish Central Bank [www.nbp.pl] it's 3.2582/3.2758/3.3240 (sell/mean/buy) today.
  
  US dolar used to be even >4.0 some time ago (2002), but since the beginning of Dubya presidency it's constantly falling. Not that I claim that those two are related ;)
  
  Robert
  
  PS You are welcome, vodka and caviar are cheap here (from 30pln for 1 litre of vodka), women are cute and the "age of consent" is 15 ;)
  
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  - Re:That clinches it (Score:2)
    
    by aelbric ( 145391 ) writes:
    
    Oops, that's what I get for going to a static website for currency exchange info. 3.25 is still pretty good if the cost of living locally is not off the scale.
    
    Tough little country, Poland. Survived the Nazis and the Communists both in the same century(along with Czechoslovakia, Hungary, et al.). Guess you guys know what dictatorship is really about. Maybe if they change the Visa rules, some more of you folks can come over and have a word with our congressmen. They seem to need a talking to.
    - Re:That clinches it (Score:2)
      
      by RWerp ( 798951 ) writes:
      
      Tough little country
      With nearly 40 million inhabitants, I wouldn't call it "little".
- Re:That clinches it (Score:2)
  
  by Xtifr ( 1323 ) writes:
  
  I'd rather go with a country that was opposed to this nonsense all along, rather than one that had a last-minute change of heart. Too much danger that they could change back.
  
  I wonder if the FSF-Europe has any recommendations on where I (we) should relocate. :)
- Re:That clinches it (Score:1)
  
  by Cobra_666 ( 777517 ) writes:
  
  Everything right except for broadband (and the currency as some other guy said ;)... it's definately not cheap. For 249 pln/month you get 1 mbit/s... I'm not saying that there aren't any cheaper options, but they have monthly transfer limits or don't allow you to share your connection with your friends/neighbors...
- Re:That clinches it (Score:2)
  
  by RWerp ( 798951 ) writes:
  
  Add to it: corporate income tax 19%.
I have one thing to say ... (Score:4, Funny)

by crimethinker ( 721591 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:30PM (#10844313)

... to the pro-software patent majority:
YOU FORGOT POLAND!
Thank you, I'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitress.
-paul

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EU forgot Poland (Score:1)

by humuhumunukunukuapu' ( 678704 ) writes:

sorry :)
As Bush would say to the EU: (Score:4, Funny)

by douthat ( 568842 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:50PM (#10844561)

You forgot Poland! [urbandictionary.com]

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Time to learn more about Poland (Score:1)

by UnapprovedThought ( 814205 ) writes:

Time to start brushing up on the Polish language, or at least to have a closer idea of how to pronounce Polish words and names:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland
The second article is a longer description of Poland along with history, maps, lots of images etc.
If software patents pass, when strong AI becomes available even thoughts (presented in patent jargon like "problem-solving heuristics in artificial neural networks: adapting techniques of the biologica
They admitted it? (Score:2, Interesting)

by CheetahMk2 ( 832017 ) writes:

However, at a meeting hosted by the Polish government on the 5th of this month, everyone including representatives of the Polish Patent Office, SUN, Novell, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, as well as various patent lawyers, confirmed that the present proposal of the EU Council does make all software potentially patentable.

That's pretty interesting. Poland said that they would not stand for pattenting of business methods, and that's why they were against it - that's the same mess that makes '___ on the w
- Re:They admitted it? (Score:2)
  
  by RWerp ( 798951 ) writes:
  
  Also, when in a room with Microsoft & Co., they admitted it WOULD allow pattenting of everything. I think that says something. I only regret that Poland's only issue is the pattentability of code that can "run on an average personal computer", not code in general. As soon as they fix that issue, Poland looks like they will side with it next time around.
  
  The "average personal computer" wording does not appear in the official statement of Polish government, which can be found at http://www.kprm.gov.pl/ [kprm.gov.pl]
And I thought Scotts were horrible... (Score:1)

by M1FCJ ( 586251 ) writes:

(the Danish minister got fried over this issue recently)
After deep-fried Mars bar... This is quite a suprise.
Belgian vote in doubt -- Infoworld (Score:3, Informative)

by JPMH ( 100614 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @02:26PM (#10844893)

Infoworld's report [infoworld.com] is claiming that the Polish decision may still be negated, if Belgium changes its vote. According to Mark MacGann of EICTA:

"In May, Belgium voted to abstain, and though I cannot speak for the Belgium government, we have been extremely encouraged by meetings we have had with officials in Belgium and are cautiously optimistic that they may change their vote to yes," MacGann said.

Should Belgium decide to approve the Council's version of the directive, Poland's change of heart would not keep the "Patentability of Computer-implemented Inventions" from being formally approved and the legislation would then move to a second reading in the Parliament, where the contentious debate would continue, MacGann said.

According to NoSoftwarePatents.com, MacGann has

got his sums wrong [nosoftwarepatents.com].
But this vote won't be over until it's over.

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More reports (Score:3, Informative)

by JPMH ( 100614 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @03:17PM (#10845506)
More reports:
- ZDnet: Patent opponents claim success [zdnet.co.uk]
- Infoworld: Polish rejection may derail EU patent directive [infoworld.com]
- The Inquirer: Poland scuppers EU software patents directive [theinquirer.net]
- EDRI: Poland blocks EU Software Patent directive [edri.org]
- NoSoftwarePatents.com: Polish Cabinet Against Software Patents [nosoftwarepatents.com]
See also FFII's Breaking News wiki [ffii.org]
The Council of Ministers' first reading text had been scheduled [ffii.org] for fast-track approval [nosoftwarepatents.com] before the end of the year, probably by Agriculture and Fisheries ministers.
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Say it with me please (Score:1, Offtopic)

by silicon not in the v ( 669585 ) writes:

w00t!
YAY Poland! (Score:2)

by sudog ( 101964 ) writes:

I've always liked Polish people anyway.
Poland looking for leveage? (Score:2)

by Lead Butthead ( 321013 ) writes:

This could easily being an attempt by the Polish government to leveage for more... western... investments.
- Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:3, Insightful)
  
  by Trurl's Machine ( 651488 ) writes:
  
  Not likely. Poland is right now in a severe political turmoil, the government [www.ctv.ca] has recently fallen due to corruption allegations and there's another interim government with rather weak (if any) support in the parlament. There's no long-term planning of anything, the government will just manage things until the next election. Every day the press reveals another evidence of corruption. The sentence "Tinted windscreen, man, tinted windscreen.. it's better than... better than... better than... anything!", taken
  - Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:1)
    
    by maciejkt ( 413286 ) writes:
    
    That's a pretty good summary of the situation here.
    
    Do not put great faith in Poland, people. It's a strange place to live. :-)
  - Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:2)
    
    by RWerp ( 798951 ) writes:
    
    It's stupid for a Pole to respond to another Pole's criticism of Poland on Slashdot, but I'll try. I think the parent poster is overly pessimistic, the guy who took the bribes is already in jail and he didn't succeed in convincing anyone in the government to his propositions. THe corruption is really large in Poland, but it's not like Chicago in Al Capone's times, not yet at least ;-)
    
    Anyway, I find it amusing that when Poland is being praised on Slashdot, the people who bitch it most are those from Poland
    - Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:2)
      
      by Trurl's Machine ( 651488 ) writes:
      
      It's stupid for a Pole to respond to another Pole's criticism of Poland on Slashdot,
      
      Stupid - maybe. But also quite typical for us, isn't it? :)
At least the joke books will be easy to rewrite... (Score:2)

by Crash Culligan ( 227354 ) writes:

s/polock/patent attorney/w

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

YFL (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Don't forget (Score:2)

Re:Don't forget (Score:2)

Don't Forget Poland! (Score:3, Insightful)

Fired or Fried? (Score:2)

I vote against software patents (Score:1)

US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:1)

Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)

Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)

Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)

Re:US economic sanctions surely to come... (Score:2)

That clinches it (Score:2)

Re:That clinches it (Score:4, Interesting)

Re:That clinches it (Score:2)

Re:That clinches it (Score:2)

Re:That clinches it (Score:2)

Re:That clinches it (Score:1)

Re:That clinches it (Score:2)

I have one thing to say ... (Score:4, Funny)

EU forgot Poland (Score:1)

As Bush would say to the EU: (Score:4, Funny)

Time to learn more about Poland (Score:1)

They admitted it? (Score:2, Interesting)

Re:They admitted it? (Score:2)

And I thought Scotts were horrible... (Score:1)

Belgian vote in doubt -- Infoworld (Score:3, Informative)

More reports (Score:3, Informative)

Say it with me please (Score:1, Offtopic)

YAY Poland! (Score:2)

Poland looking for leveage? (Score:2)

Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:3, Insightful)

Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:1)

Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:2)

Re:Poland looking for leveage? (Score:2)

At least the joke books will be easy to rewrite... (Score:2)

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