European Policy & Agenda

See

FFII: software patent news page

for the most current updates.

A proposal for a European Community Directive has come out, see

CEC & BSA 2002-02-20: proposal to make all useful ideas patentable

The European Parliament has the right to reject the proposal (co-decision procedure). Opposition against the proposal has achieved majorities in the Culture (CULT) and Industry (ITRE) committees. But the rapporteur of the legal affairs committee MEP Arlene McCarthy is pushing vocally for software patents and has proposed to pass the European Commission's Proposal with only minor (and not helpful) modifications. see

McCarthy Software Patentability Directive

The European Council (CEU), which is the third partner in the co-decision procedure, has gone beyond its role in the procedure and prematurely adopted amendment proposals worked out by a group of national patent administrators under the presidency of the Danish Patent Office (DKPTO) in November 2002.

These amendments use a more restrictive rhetoric (repeating the word "technical" more often without defining it and without providing any means of eliminating undesired patents) and at the same time introduce program claims, thus making sure that publication and distribution of software can be pursued as a direct patent infringment. It has been the strategy of the patent lobby to quote this "European Council Compromise Proposal" and use it to put pressure on the European Parliament.

CEU/DKPTO software patentability directive proposal

McCarthy's committee will discuss further amendment proposals and then vote near the end of March. The European Parliament's plenum is likely to vote at the latest in May.

If you like the prospect of being involved in patent litigation in the future and having to deal with more monopoly software than now, then you needn't do anything. McCarthy, the European Patent Office (EPO) and some large corporate patent departments are doing everything for you.

If you prefer to spend a little time on talking to your MEP now, you can find some hints at

European Parliament

Consult the above pages for the latest info.

Eurolinux 2001-10: Juridical Coup at the European Patent Office

In Oct 2001 the president of the European Patent Office has, in preemption of political decisions to be taken by European governments, decreed a regulation that authorises patent claims to computer programs. The Eurolinux Alliance calls for the replacement of the board of the European Patent Office by the european governments and the establishment of democratic control over the european patent system.

http://www.eurolinux.org/news/coup01A/

EC Consultation on Patentability of Computer-Implementable Rules of Organisation and Calculation (Programs for Computers)

On 2000-10-19 the European Commission's Industrial Property Unit published a position paper which tries to describe a legal reasoning similar to that which the European Patent Office has during recent years been using to justify its illegal practise of granting software patents, and called on companies and industry associations to comment on this reasoning. The consultation was evidently conceived as a mobilisation exercise for patent departments of major corporations and associations. The consultation paper itself stated the viewpoint of the European Patent Office and asked questions that could only be reasonably answered by patent lawyers. Moreover, it was accompanied by an "independent study", carried out under the order of the EC IndProp Unit by a well known patent establishment think-tank, which basically stated the same viewpoint. Patent law experts of various associations and corporations responded, mostly by applauding the paper and explaining that patents are needed to stimulate innovation and to protect the interests of small and medium-size companies. However there were also quite a few associations, companies and more than 1000 individuals, mostly programmers, who expressed their opposition to the extension of patentability to the realm of software, business methods, intellectual methods and other immaterial products and processes. The EC IndProp Unit later failed to adequately publish the consultation results and moderate a discussion. Therefore we are doing this, and you can help us.

http://swpat.ffii.org/vreji/papri/eukonsult00/

Software Patentability with Compensator Regulation: A Cost Analysis

Europe is preparing major changes in its patent system. The European Patent Office (EPO) has proposed to remove limitations on patentability, such as the exclusion of computer programs in Art. 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC). A report by the French Academy of Technologies supports this proposal but suggests additional regulation measures in order to reduce potential abuses of software patents. In this article, we try to assess the costs of such compensatory regulation. They add up to an estimated 1-5 billion EUR per year for the European Union. Various regulation approaches and cheaper legislative approaches are compared in this article, written by Jean-Paul Smets and Hartmut Pilch in 2001-09.

http://swpat.ffii.org/stidi/pleji/

A Framework For Global Electronic Commerce, President William J. Clinton, Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.

In this article (1996), Al Gore explains that all countries in the World should adopt the US patent law in order to benefit from the growth of electronic commerce. Based on such US policy statements, the patent establishment has been able to promote its cause of unlimited patentability throughout the world in the name of the US government. Countries like Jordan and Japan have been bullied into accepting software patents by diplomatic pressure from the US government (which is in turn under heavy influence from large corporations whose patent policies are shaped exclusively by their patent departments, which are in turn composed of loyal members of the patent community).

http://www.iitf.doc.gov/eleccomm/ecomm.htm

Greenbook on the Community Patent and the Patent System in Europe

This is the document which started it all. It was released in 1997.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/indprop/558.htm

London Conference

This is the conference which started the EC lobbying. The presentation by John Mogg, Director General (DG XV - EC), is one of the most interesting piece of ideology. This presentation claims that software patents have absolutely no negative effects. (hopefully, Al Gore will send flowers to John Mogg).

http://www.patent.gov.uk/softpat/en/index.html
http://www.patent.gov.uk/softpat/en/1030.html

Follow-up Paper to the Greenpaper

In this document, the European Commission confirms that there will be software patents. We also recommend the original French version which includes a sentence explaining that "software patents had a great effect on innovation" and that Microsoft is a good example of software patent holder.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/indprop/99.htm

Amended proposal for a Directive on the protection of inventions by utility model

This directive on utility models (i.e. short time patents) does not include any exception for computer programmes, thus allowing them. It has not been voted yet.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/indprop/utility.htm

Intellectual Property Law in a Global Economy, the Hidden Agenda of the European Commission. JP. Smets

This article, based on numerous references and verified information, gives evidences of the strictly ideological point of view of the European Commission and the influence of US on the European Agenda.