Slashdot Mirror
Poland Blocks Software Patents in the EU
Several people wrote in with news bits about Poland maneuvering to block software patents in the EU. Patent supporters had planned to sneak in a patent vote at a meeting devoted to agriculture. While this is a temporary reprieve, it's very likely to reappear next year.
There is a lot of polish slashdotters. The problem is, that almost all of us read about polish achievements in the field of european patent policy on slashdot. Mainstream media in Poland are silent on this topic. There is only one polish website (http://www.vagla.pl/) which is really up-to-date. Free software movement in Poland is strong in the field of programming, but not in overall policy. Most people just don't know what's really going on.
This Is Not a Sig
Actually, he doesn't have to be 'honest' -- just looking out for his own interests like all politicians do. Poland is still a 'developing' economy in many ways and he must have thought through the implications, or possibly even looked at the example of the US system, and realized that software patents will lock in the 'status quo' and make it impossible for startup software companies to get anywhere. Just as happens in the US, any new company would be absorbed by the 'big players' through legal manipulation. Since none of the current giants of software are located in Poland, he would clearly see some benefit to his own country's economy, and therefore possibly to himself as a politician living in and representing that economy, in preserving the chance for new startup software companies in Poland to succeed.