EU patents: Bill Gates threatens Danmark government to cut 800 jobs

According to danish newspaper “Børsen” and the “Copenhagen Post”, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft is threatening the danish government to move [800] jobs from Denmark to the United States should Denmark continue to oppose the software patent directive.

The threat could be executed “if part of the IT business manages to block the disputed EU directive on patenting software, that Microsoft wants so dearly, but time and time again has been postponed thanks to efficient lobbying by anti-patent opposition,” according to the Børsen article.

The news is published only two days before the call for demonstration against software patents in Brussels on 17th February.

For more information:

 Groklaw: Gates v. Denmark
 Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) statement