EU consumer law to defy industry opposition
News The legislation in question is the Rome II treaty -- now in draft form -- which if adopted would allow anybody buying online goods in the EU to have the protection of local consumer law, rather than having to rely on the law of the country where...
[May 18, 2001, 17:38]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
News Linux creator Linus Torvalds has made an appeal to the EU Council to oppose the adoption of the Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions, known as the software patent directive.
[November 23, 2004, 11:35]
Critics delay vote on EU intellectual property law
News The delays are the result of the intense controversy surrounding the directive, one of several major proposed changes to the way intellectual property is handled in the EU. A vote is unlikely before the end of the year, however, because the EU...
[November 19, 2003, 16:30]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback Torvalds is right. I hope Europe doesn't make the same mistake that the U.S.has made. Software patents in th U.S.have created a situation in which programmers cannot risk writing code unless they are in the employ and under the protection of large...
[November 23, 2004, 14:25]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback A brave Anonymous from Bath (wherever that may locate) said : Who cares what Linus Torvalds thinks? Is > he a lawyer? No ! And forgot that lawyers never make the laws. They interpret it. Does he understand European politics?
[November 24, 2004, 11:53]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback Linus is right. Patents must be not for software, because every day tons of people develop new ideas on software easily, but they do not have the means to patent it neither to protected him against the big corporations.
[November 23, 2004, 15:49]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback Who cares what Linus Torvalds thinks? Is he a lawyer? No! Does he understand European politics? No! Is he a successful businessman? No! Did he kick off a really useful concept in computer programming?
[November 23, 2004, 12:56]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback I think comparing david beckham making you a suit with linus torvalds talking about software patent law is unfair. When policy makers want to do a study of a proposed law on specific industries, they usually consider industry leaders, labor...
[November 24, 2004, 4:32]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback > Who cares what Linus Torvalds thinks? Is he a lawyer? No! Does he understand European politics? No! Is he a successful businessman? No! Aside from the doubtful nature of Torvalds' legal advice, these statements are so factually incorrect as to be...
[November 23, 2004, 13:19]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback I understand that Microsoft applied for a patent for the "double click" feature found in one of its hand held, remote, devices. Do you suppose that means that any device manufactured from now on that utlizes the double click feature found in almost...
[November 26, 2004, 1:55]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback Software problems have a lot of problems: Software patents cover really basic principles that any number of developers can and will independently invent. They're embarassing really. A program will involve hundreds and thousands of ideas, so will it...
[November 23, 2004, 16:50]
Linus Torvalds speaks out against EU patent law
Talkback Copyrights are adequate to protect the software you wrote from being used without your consent and without an agreed fee. If you have a business and you 'pirate' your copy of WindowsXP and the 'Business Software Consortium' find out, they will...
[November 23, 2004, 21:19]
EU committee gives 'file-sharing' law go-ahead
News The 'telecoms package', which on Monday gained approval by the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), has sparked concern over its support for greater collaboration between ISPs and the content industry — an association that...
[July 8, 2008, 16:43]
EU members ignore spam directive
News The EU's anti-spam directive, which was passed in July 2003, has been ignored by most EU member states because it will not stop the spam problem, according to research published by the Institute of Information Law (IvIR) at the InfoSecurity...
[April 27, 2004, 15:00]
FSF: Microsoft's attack on EC is 'outrageous'
Talkback EU / EC grants require basic standards of ethics and law-abidance. MS is clearly still operating on the wrong side of the law and has not corrected the situation, thus the noise from Redmond against the EU.
[February 19, 2006, 10:08]
US Government 'lobbied EC' over Microsoft fine
Talkback If Microsoft break EU law, the US government have no business trying to interfere with the legal process. Not sure I understand some of the negative comments here about the EU. Even the US courts found Microsoft guilty of breaking the law, but when...
[September 27, 2006, 14:57]
Batteries law could force iPhone design change
News At issue is the New Batteries Directive of 2006, which became law in the UK and other EU member states on 26 September. The law is an update to the previous Batteries Directive, adopted by the EU in March 1991, which failed to keep batteries out of...
[October 8, 2008, 17:05]
Bush lobbies EU to drop traffic data retention ban
News The US President has added his voice to those of the British government and EU law enforcement agencies, who have been demanding powers to intercept electronic communications for terrorist and criminal investigations.
[November 5, 2001, 13:04]
EU data laws threaten UK firms
News UK firms face fines, imprisonment or even closure under an EU data protection directive that became law on Wednesday. It also will also affect offline companies, ruling that no personal data held on computer systems is sent or leaked -- maliciously...
[March 1, 2000, 16:10]
EU directive 'could spark patent war'
Talkback US law is out of step with EU and almost everybody else, including its own "IT executives, software developers, economists" and legal scholars. It is not EU which is out of step. That anonymous "representative of the US government" is at best...
[October 4, 2003, 2:16]



