The unitary patent [9] is coming hot upon us this fall, with the European Parliament vote on a regulation.
A video reviews the questions raised by this regulation project on unitary patent [10]. This presentation restates that software patents are still a dangerous threat to Free Software, and insists on the necessity to carefully elaborate a good patent policy. It points out the lacks of the Commission's proposal and proposes the needed amendments for unitary patent to quickly become reality.
We must now distribute this presentation as broadly as possible, and first to the MEPs so that they push for the amendments we wrote [11].
The primary target consists in warning the MEPs of the Judiciary commission (JURI), so that our amendments propositions are integrated to the report it is to deliver in the coming months, see http://memopol2.lqdn.fr/europe/parliament/committee/JURI/ [12]for the contact informations.
The Industry commission (ITRE) has also to state its advice on the subject, you can also write to and phone its members [13].
Little HOWTO contact your MEP:
- MEPs are listening to the citizens they represent, they are generally responsive when citizens of their country give them a point of view, an expertise about a topic. Everyone should feel free to write to French MEPs.
- Sending a "template" mail is useless and it's usually rather a bad move. It's better to customize your message by stating briefly who you are (for ex. member of April, computer user, etc.), why you feel concerned by the subject (for ex. mentioning the danger of software patents) and submit some action points (for ex. get to know the actual issues by watching the video, propose and/or vote for proposed amendments...).
- To be sure of the impact, send a mail and then phone to ensure the mail has been correctly received and ask for the MEP's line of action.