August 22nd, 2011 08:00
admin
protoshell writes
“‘Software patents in Europe could be validated with a central patent court,’ warns Richard Stallman in an article published in the Guardian. After the rejection of the software patent directive in 2005, large companies have shifted their lobbying towards the validation of software patents in Europe through a central patent court, which is foreseen with the Unitary Patent project. Even if the European Patent Convention literally excludes software from patents, the European Patent Office and the German courts interpret the exclusion narrowly, which makes software patents valid in the end.”Source: EU Central Court Could Validate Software Patents
Categories: slashdot Tags: Court, Europe, European, european patent convention, european patent office, patent, patent project, protoshell, Richard Stallman, software, software patents
June 23rd, 2010 06:12
admin
ciaran_o_riordan writes “Due to lobbying by a group called NZICT, New Zealand’s parliament is now set to let go of its proposal to ban software patents. Patent attorney Steven Lundberg announced the details in a blog entry. This was quickly deleted, but not before it got stored in Google’s cache. Here we can read that ‘Hon Simon Power has asked MED [Ministry of Economic Development] to work with the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office to redraft the section along the lines of the European Patent Convention.’ Which is exactly the opposite of March’s announcement that ‘computer software should be excluded from patent protection as software patents can stifle innovation and competition, and can be granted for trivial or existing techniques.’ The background to this case gives every reason to be hopeful, if computer users in New Zealand get active again.”
Source: New Zealand U-Turns, Will Grant Software Patents
Categories: slashdot Tags: ciaran, computer, european patent convention, Grant Software, innovation and competition, ministry of economic development, New Zealand, newzealand, patent, patents, riordan, software, software patents, Steven Lundberg, yro
May 12th, 2010 05:56
admin
zoobab writes “The Staff Union of the European Patent Organisation sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, warning that after the EU accedes to the European Patent Convention, there is a risk that the European Parliament would be ‘circumvented’ as a legislator. The European Patent Organisation is in no way a model of democracy: national patent offices are in power, there is no parliament involved in the decision-making process, and diplomatic conferences are held behind closed doors. There are plans to create a central patent court in Europe, which would operate in a democratic vacuum, not counterbalanced by any legislative assembly, in particular not the European Parliament. Such a central patent court could also validate software patents via caselaw (as the German Supreme Court recently did with the Microsoft FAT patent). And Microsoft, IBM, and SAP are lobbying in Brussels not to reopen consideration of the software patent directive.”
Source: EU Patent Examiners Warn Parliament Will Have “No Power”
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: Brussels, Court, diplomatic conferences, Europe, European, european patent convention, european patent organisation, german supreme court, Organisation, Parliament, patent, president of the european parliament