MEP thanks Yorkshire constituents after software vote in Parliament
Richard Corbett, Labour MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, has thanked Yorkshire constituents for their advice and contributions to the debate on a major piece of legislation.
Shortly after 11am (UK time) today, MEPs rejected a proposed law on the patenting of software by a huge majority. This proposal is now dead.
Richard said:
"I have received more e-mails, letters and calls on the issue of software patents than on any other issue in recent times.
"I am immensely grateful to the hundreds of constituents who have taken the time to explain their views to me. My Labour colleagues and I have taken on board their advice and rejected this proposal.
"My thanks go out to constituents for their participation in good lawmaking."
Among those constituents campaigning for the rejection of software patents were small businesses, individual programmers, academics, and ordinary computer users.
The proposed Directive would have allowed software companies to protect their 'computer-implemented inventions'. Opponents argued that this would have stifled creativity, crippled small companies and individual developers, and seriously damaged Europe's flourishing 'open source' (free) software community.
Under current law, software code remains protected by copyright.
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