Danish Referendum on the Unified Patent Court

[Carsten Agger]

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There is to be a referendum in Denmark on the Unified Patent Court,
which will be a single patent authority for  European countries (I
believe some non-EU countries participate, while Italy and Spain have
declined)

http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/danish-government-confirms-eu-re-news-532513



The Danish free software/digital rights community as embodied e.g. in
It-Politisk Forening (http://www.itpol.dk, IT-Political Association of
Denmark) of which I am a member, is recommending a NO to the UPC.

This is because while software patents are (I believe) not allowed in
European patents, the European-level courts have adopted a far more
permissive stance than our local patent office, which means that
accepting the UPC will result in many more software patents being
enforceable in Denmark.

All political parties support the UPC and favour a YES at the
referendum, except the far-right Danish People's Party (DPP) and the
left-wing Enhedslisten (EL).

Whereas DPP oppose the UPC on grounds of national sovereignty, EL have
argued against giving large corporation an uncontrollable (by us in
Denmark, or people outside the EU bureacracy) monopoly on ideas to
large corporations. Interestingly, they have explicitly mentioned the
threat from software patents currently acknowledged on the European
level but not by our local system.

I've been invited to a meeting next Monday, and I think I will ad the
support of our local FSFE group on the "NO" side. The reasoning is,
once again: We do not want any software patents, and we believe this
unified patents may easily become a means for introducing software
patents on the European level.

On the other hand, a Danish "NO" might be a good starting for a
general campaign for a complete ban on software patents on the
European level.

I don't think I have links to a good analysis in English, but people
might try Google translating this one:
http://www.itpol.dk/notater/enhedspatent-og-softwarepatenter-erhvervsudvalg-jan13

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