The EU Software Patent Directive

I read last night over on Boing Boing that, Corrupt Irish officials at the European Commission.

The problem stems round the fact that Ireland is totally and utterly dependent upon money from Microsoft.

The country that has so far pushed hardest for software patents is Ireland. During the Irish presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2004, the EU Council reached a "political agreement" on a software patent directive, under circumstances that were questionable. Ireland is a tax haven for the European subsidiaries of large U.S. corporations, such as Microsoft. Those American companies only have to pay very low tax rates (such as 10%) by establishing their European subsidiary in Ireland. The Irish economy is heavily dependent upon such companies, and it is a publicized fact that Microsoft was a sponsor of the Irish EU presidency.

Once more we have Microsoft and America interfering in the EU, I urge you all to use Write To Them and email your MEP get them to act to sort out this mess.

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