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BLOG@IP::JURPatent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.
Friday, September 15, 2006Anti-IP "Pirate Party" Movement Creating German Organisation, Lashed by FFII.In my earlier posting I reported that the  Pirate Party known from its Swedish branch has also started with activities in Austria and Germany. Only recently, a German "Piratenpartei" has been formally founded.This German Piratenpartei now operates a Wiki where, in German, a discussion concerning their political programme takes place. For readers of this Blog the Wiki page on Patents might be of interest. The contents of this Wiki may change from hour to hour, and my comments relate to the state of affairs as given today, September 15, 2006. In the header section of the Wiki page some authors write:"[...] Die Piratenpartei Schwedens fordert die Abschaffung des Patentwesens. Der FFII hält dies für eine politisch sinnvolle Forderung, die allerdings durch flexible Verhandlungsangebote ergänzt werden kann. Hierzu gehört insbesondere die Wiederaufnahme der bereits vom Europäischen Parlament befürworteten Forderungen nach Einhaltung des gesetzlichen Verbots von Softwarepatenten und Wiedereinführung des klaren Technikbegriffs der 70er Jahre, demzufolge eine Erfindung den Wissensstand auf naturwissenschaftlichem Gebiet bereichern muss. [...]"I would like to offer my own translation as follows: "[...] The Pirate Party of Sweden demands the abolition of the patent system. FFII esteems this as a politically reasonable postulation which, however, might be supplemented by flexible offers to negotiate. Inter alia, these offers in particular comprise re-uptaking of demands endorsed by the European Parliament to enforce the legal ban on software patents as well as the re-introduction of the clear concept of technicality of the 1970s according to which an invention needs to augment the state of knowledge on the field of science of nature. [...]"It is perfectly clear, in particular in view of the Discussion page related to the Wiki page on patents, that Mr. Hartmut Pilch ("phm"), Vice-President of FFII, is working hard to radicalise the Piratenpartei by arguing in favour of a clause in their programme demanding complete abolishment of the patent system. Both Wiki histories of the patent page as well as of the discussion page give still more insight into the dynamics of this process.That what happens now was to be expected. Of course, it is still entirely open as to whether or not the Piratenpartei will survive the coming years. They intend to run for the next elections to the European Parliament in 2009. Surely many patent professionals will be inclined to balk at taking that Piratenpartei much serious. But I would like to offer a word of warning: In the 1960s, development of nuclear energy was explicitly endorsed by applicable German Law, and virtually no engineer working in this field could have imagined that roughly 30 years later there will be a parliamentary political majority for an exit strategy to shut down nuclear power plants one by one. The rise of the Greens as a political party in Germany is closely related to these changes. Will the Piratenpartei become the Greens of the Digital Age in the 21st century? Will their anti-IP attitude eventually become mainstream? DISCLAIMER: I do not argue against or in favour of any particular nuclear energy policy. I only want to stress some possible abstract similarity of two long-term political processes. Technorati Tags: Patents
Hi Axel, thanks for raising this topic. You have been warning for many years that the anti-software-patent movement could easily become an anti-patent movement. After some years of experience in trying to push for conservative reforms of the patentability rules, I have indeed gained the experience that reformism gets stuck in a jungle of immobile institutions and has no chance, unless there is pressure from outside. If the patent institutions learn that they can be replaced (abolition doesn't mean "no IP at all"), they might start to open their minds at least for the kind of even more modest reform proposal that you have been espousing, also with zero success AFAICS, so far. Btw, the traditional meaning of a "technical contribution" is an enrichment of the state of knowledge not in "science" but "natural science" (Naturwissenschaften). I know that in English sometimes "science" is used for the narrower meaning of "natural science", but in this case the ambiguity can make the phrase meaningless. You may want to correct that part of your translation of the text from the pirate party site.
Hi Axel, I have now published a discussion paper Toward a Copyright-Centered Paradigm of Intellectual Property which tries to sketch a possible political roadmap for phasing out and replacing the patent system.
@phm: My copy of "The Concise Oxford English Dictionary", Tenth Edition, says under the keyword "science", item numbering 1: "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and management". That was what I had thought of. However, under item number 2, the Dictionary also says: "a systematically organised body of knowledge on any subject", and under item number 3 even "(archaic) knowledge". So, ok., I'll insert "natural" into my translation.
See also http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060918-7768.html " Pirate Party falls short of Swedish election goals, blames faulty procedures 9/18/2006 1:25:07 PM, by Anders Bylund Sweden's Pirate Party was optimistic about its chances leading up to yesterday's general election, but the results are in and it doesn't look good for the upstart political movement. Under current election procedures, you need at least 4 percent of the national votes or 12 percent in any one electoral district to qualify for a parliamentary seat, and the Pirate Party came up short with only 0.6 percent of the national vote. Four districts gave the party more than a 1 percent share, but none of those tallies exceeded 2 percent. Just days before the election, Pirate Party press releases said that the party was "stronger than ever," that the party had more members than three of the largest alternative parties combined, and that it should snag at least a 5 percent national share. As vote counts roll in today, 4,810 votes cast for the party (links to material in Swedish) placed it firmly on a benchwarmer's seat, behind one of the parties it dissed last week, and below the total of 12,577 blank votes cast. The 822 districts counted at the time of writing was enough for Prime Minister Göran Persson to tender his resignation. More on that later. [...]" Post a Comment
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