The Empire Strikes Back [Software Patent Directive (5) ]

The annoucement by Microsoft earlier this month that it will withdraw its participation in the Dennish Lab Navision (800 employees) if no european protection is granted to softwares did not receive the expected response.

After the Polish parliament, the Spanish Senado, and the Dutch Tweede Kamer, the Bundestag unanimously voted a motion against the Directive. Four sovereign parliaments, four nations out of 25 are officialy opposed to the directive as it is.

Still, the political situation is worrying. As Florian Mueller points out, Microsoft is also the biggest tax provider in Ireland. And the EU commissioner McCreevy, in charge of the process of adoption of the directive, was formerly the Irish Minister of Finance. He's therefore now Microsoft's best friend in the Commission. As the Général de Gaulle was saying at the end of the WW2, when other European countries wanted to let the US enter the European Institutions: "We must not set the fox to mind the geeze".

Still valid nowadays, it seems.