[ILUG] EU constitution

[Colm Buckley]

On 10 Mar 2005, at 10:42, Colm Buckley wrote:

> On 10 Mar 2005, at 10:31, Sean O'Donnell wrote:
>
>> The European constitution takes IP protection as an axiom with no
>> explanation and no provision for exceptions or even time limits (not 
>> that
>> I've read the whole thing but a grep for "intellectual" turns up just 
>> this
>> reference).
>
> [babies and bathwater]

That was perhaps a little unnecessarily facetious.  What I meant was:  
the Constitution in its current form was arrived at after a long 
process of negotiation and consultation between very many interested 
parties.  It contains much that is good - and, unfortunately, some that 
is bad.  On balance, I think it is a significant improvement on the 
current situation, and this is why I support it.

On the issue referenced above : I think that this Article by itself is 
not sufficient to allow for (eg) the introduction of unlimited 
patentability, especially given the ongoing opposition to this notion 
from the EP (which we *must* continue to nurture and encourage - as the 
saying goes, "they" only have to win once).  Given that it is not 
possible at this stage to remove individual lines from the Constitution 
(amendments are, of course, possible in the future), we end up with the 
choice of accepting the Constitution as it stands, including this line 
on IP, or rejecting it in its entirety.  My call on this choice is that 
we'll be better off with the Constitution than without.

	Colm

-- 
Colm Buckley / colm at tuatha.org / +353 87 2469146 / www.colm.buckley.name