Gerard Vanderveken
CEO of Ghia bvba

Patents will be a roadblock to the expansion of our sector, because a lot of possibilities will be claimed. I and my company don't see any benifits in software patents. Our Intellectual Property Rights are convenient protected by the Copyright. We would like to continue to invest time and money for R&D and true innovation instead of wasting it on patents and litigation.
While three quarters of the software patents are from US or Japan based companies, this will start a billion drain out of Europe, which has to be paided by the public.
In Europe, we don't have much ore or oil. The only thing we have plenty are our little grey cells, which can be used for software 'production'. To be able to do so in the future and keeping our jobs, we petition that all MEPs will be present for voting YES to the Rocard amendments.