[Fsfe-ie] Pat Cox and Irish support for swpat

Justin Mason jm at jmason.org
Tue Jun 7 18:34:04 CEST 2005


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Barry Mahon writes:
> On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 12:00:17 +0200, <fsfe-ie-request at fsfeurope.org> wrote:
> 
> >
> > Are the two unconnected, or is there a reason that there seems to be
> > such hardline Irish support for all-out unlimited software patentability?
> 
> Of course they are! M$ is a BIG supporter of the Irish Gov. line on
> this - may even have been the instigator of it, wasn't there a remark
> on here a while back on who sponsored the Irish EU presidency site?

However even MS sources off the record said this was blown out of all
proportion.  They "sponsored" in terms of simple things like helping build
the website etc.; they didn't give money to the presidency for a
particular line on patents, or anything like that, I hear.

It's more likely that a front lobbying organisation like CompTIA or so on
was able to get the ear of the policy-makers.  

Of course there was probably MS money and lawyers involved there, but the
"site sponsorship" thing is a red herring. (a very embarrassing red
herring for the Irish presidency, but a red herring nonetheless.)

- --j.
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