Paris, 21 November 2013. Press release.
Earlier this morning, without any debate, the French Senate adopted a bill to authorise the ratification of the agreement establishing a unified patent jurisdiction in Europe. April regrets that the Senators failed to discuss this text, which was described as purely technical, as was the international agreement that it endorses.
This Thursday morning, the bill authorising the ratification of the agreement establishng a unified patent jurisdiction [4] [fr] was to be examined at the plenary of the French Senate. Instead of being sujected to a real discussion, this bill, which is critical for innovation and programming freedom, was put to the vote of the attending Senators within seconds.
Yet, the dangers entailed by this agreement have long been denounced publicly [5] [fr]. “The speediness of the attending Senators' vote only matches their incompetence and I-don't-care attitude over an agreement that will harm French and European businesses, as well as EU law, for the sole benefit of large American or Asian corporations and, above all, of the European Patent Office — of which Senator Yung, the main promoter of the project at the Senate, was once the director”, said Gérald Sédrati-Dinet, April's volunteer patent expert.
April hopes that the deputies will insist on a real discussion when the text goes to the National Assembly.
For further information on the Unitary Patent, please refer to the unitary-patent.eu [6] website, and the article Only Gandalf can protect Europe from the Unitary Patent [7] in particular.
About April
A Pioneer of Free Software in France since 1996, April is a major player in the democratisation of Free Software and open standards, and in their spread to the general public, professionals and institutions of the French-speaking world. In the digital era that is ours, it also aims to inform the public on the dangers of an exclusive appropriation of information and knowledge by private interests.
The organisation is a non-profit and it has over 3,600 members, who use or produce Free Software.
For more information, you may visit http://www.april.org/ [8], contact us by phone at +33 1 78 76 92 80, or use our contact form [9].
Press contact:
Gérald Sédrati-Dinet, volunteer Patent Counsel, gibus@unitary-patent.eu [10] +33 6 60 56 36 45
Jeanne Tadeusz, Public Affairs Officer, jtadeusz@april.org [11] +33 1 78 76 92 82
Frédéric Couchet, Executive Director, fcouchet@april.org [12] +33 6 60 68 89 31