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Dutch Parliament Reverses Software Patent Vote

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the changing-our-mind dept.

Sanity writes "On May 18th, by a thin majority, the European Council of Ministers voted in favor of throwing out the European Parliament's efforts to keep software patents out of Europe. According to an FFII press release, the Dutch Parliament yesterday voted to change its Minister's vote, which was in favor, to an abstension. This is an unprecidented move and a great coup for those fighting against software patents, never before has a country reversed a vote in this manner. While this is not sufficient to reverse the decision of the Council of Ministers, it does pave the way for other countries, many of which were pressured into an affirmative vote, to do the same. Now is the time for citizens of the EU to put pressure on their national governments to follow the Dutch lead."

5 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Double negative by Hakubi_Washu · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Just add a comma, then it makes sense again :-)
    >...efforts_,_ to keep software patents...

  2. Re:From the /. posting you'd never know... by geoffspear · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If you want your news source to tell you what to think about a story, watch Fox News. Some of us prefer the facts without having an editorial opinion attached to the story.

    --
    Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
  3. Re:I love the Dutch! by BerntB · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    The Netherlands never ceases to impress me
    It's Friday. Do they have any good beer?

    I'll be out drinking with a potential girl friend today.

    (-: Skip the "I don't believe you're a geek" jokes, plz. My creds are fine -- Perl, Emacs, C[++] and I've even installed Debian multiple times. :-)

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    Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
  4. Re:holy triple negatives batman by Vexler · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Actually, in the Greek language a double negative is not a sign of incorrect grammar or even "street Greek": It turns the statement into an emphatic negative.

  5. Re:Its a dangerous precedent by mmclar · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    After the vote it came to light the minister had lied (explained as "an error in the word processor" by his State Secretary)

    Was this word processor Microsoft Word, by any chance?