write to your EuroMP candidates!
Do it now...
Tell them you will NOT vote for a candidate who does not oppose SOFTWARE PATENTS 100% ...
Also tell them you will not vote for them if their PARTY doesnt condemn software patents,
tell them at the moment the situation of themselves and their party is unclear hence you are presently (regrettably) going to vote for someone else. (You can do this to all parties - they lie to us so why be honest with them!)


I worte to all my MEP candidates, when writing to my UK labour one I cc'sd Alrene McCarthy... she didnt reply like my MEP said so I emailed him again...
this time (after the Ireland fiasco she did answer)


Dear Sir

As Draftsperson for the Parliament I, along with the Parliament, voted
for
limits to the patenting of computer-implemented inventions. The Member
States i.e. the Council of Ministers have chosen to ignore Parliament’s
views, which has disappointed us greatly and we are now preparing for
some
very tough negotiations with them.

However, fortunately the Council of Ministers and the Commission cannot
ignore our views as democratically elected Members of the European
Parliament. I can assure you that the Parliament will defend its
position
and there will be no final law without the agreement of the Parliament.
If
both the Council of Ministers and the European Commission refuse to
reinsert
Parliament’s amendments, there will be no Directive. Our power on this
piece
of legislation is very strong we can modify it or block it if we choose
to
do so.

My position as Rapporteur and that of the Labour MEPs remains unchanged
and
in the negotiations I will defend Parliaments position.

· I am not in favour of patenting of software as in the US.

· Europe needs a uniform legal approach to stop the drifting towards
extending patentability to inventions, which would not have been
traditionally allowed, and to stop patentability of pure business
methods,
algorithms or mathematical methods.

· Software products as such, must not be patented.

· Opensource software must be allowed to flourish and the Commission
must
ensure that this Directive does not have any adverse effect on
opensource
software and small software developers.

· Patents and the threat of litigation must not be used as an
anti-competitive weapon to squeeze out small companies.

Furthermore I am supporting a UK campaign for a defence fund for small
companies to protect themselves from litigation abuse by dominant
market
players.


Yours sincerely

Arlene McCarthy MEP

You can influence this....
I might not vote labour, it doesnt matter I and thousdands like me have forced them to change their position. The queen of SW patents has changed her tune and is no longer pro-SW patents like in the US !!!

Write to every party.... even if you have NO intention to vote for that party it doesnt matter!