Last Chance To Lobby Your MP about Bad IP Law

Simon reminded me.

“If you are a citizen of a country that is a member of the EU, today is probably your last chance to beg your representatives not to cave to the unholy alliance of drug, media and software companies that wants to make criminal sanctions available against copyright and patent abusers.”

I know many of you now think I am a reactionary force, an apostle of ignorance, and a knave of the gnout, but I am largely consistent when it comes to IP law. The EU is on the verge of making some potential horrendous mistakes, and now is an opportunity to encourage your representatives to do the right thing. You can use the fantastic writetothem service to do so. Here is a copy of the letter I sent. [one thing i want to make very clear, dear readers, is that my point about Japan is solely about economics. Japanese people in my experience are very inventive and creative but the country has not had a great economic record of late. They weren’t originally called Patent Monopoly Acts for nothing].

Monday 23 April 2007

Dear John Bowis OBE, Jean Lambert, Claude Moraes, Mary Honeyball, Charles Tannock, Baroness Sarah Ludford, Robert Evans, Gerard Batten and Syed Kamall,

I note that the IPR Enforcement Directive comes to vote soon at the European Parliament. I am very concerned about the potential negative impact of the legislation on the European economy, innovation and job creation. By providing established large businesses with a new tool to exploit in lobbying, we risk the dampening of the innovation by smaller firms.

IPR throught patents is an unproven area, and as the US experience with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act shows, unleashing powerful sanctions at the behest of existing businesses can result in abuse. This directive has aspects which lobbyists from the drug, software and communications industries can make sound appealing. it will however likely restrain open source software development in Europe and the pioneering of new European businesses.

One area of particular concern is patent law. It is often said that Europe needs stronger patent protections in order to better compete with Japan and the US. A cursory look at economics over the last 20 years should raise plenty of red lights concerning patents however, given Japan’s stronger patent protections, and slower growing economy.

Yours sincerely,

James Governor