Newsletter Discussion

Abstract

On may 5th, Ireland, the holder of the EU presidency, secured a qualified majority for a counterproposal to the software patents directive; Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal showed resistance. The proposal tends to discard all the amendments from the European Directive, which would limit patentability. On May 18th, the European Council voted through controversial changes to the EU's Software Patents Directive.

Patent News [May/June 2004]

On 5th of May, Ireland (which holds the EU presidency) managed to secure a qualified majority for a counter-proposal to the software patents directive, with only a few countries showing resistance (Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal). The new text proposes to discard all the amendments from the European Directive which would limit patentability. The proposal was scheduled to be confirmed without discussion in a meeting two weeks later, unless one of the Member States changes its vote. Members of the European Parliament from all groups across the political spectrum are condemning this blatant disrespect for democracy in Europe.

On 18th of May, the European Council voted through controversial changes to the European Union's Software Patents Directive that will pave the way for widespread patenting of software in Europe. According to the UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which backed the changes, the vote removes many of the changes introduced last year by the European Parliament that would have limited the degree to which software programs could be patented. The Directive will now be sent back to the European Parliament for another vote there in autumn.

Germany has decided to vote against any changes to current software patent laws. Germany's decision flies in the face of the European Commission (the same body which levied the 500 million fine against Microsoft) which wants to rewrite European patent law to allow for patents of software features for the first time in Europe. In a statement given to demonstrators in Germany, The Federal Department of Justice Minister asserts that under no circumstances American procedures are wanted in Europe, as far as a patent must be "a fair reward for a bona fide invention and not abused as a strategy to bludgeon competitors".

The EU-wide patent was intended to drive down costs. The European patent now available, which covers five EU countries, is about five times as expensive as patents in the United States or Japan. The commission says an EU-wide patent would cut the average EU cost in half and cover all 25 EU countries. Germany is seen as especially reluctant to give up its regional patent courts - a lucrative source of jobs and revenue. About half of all discoveries in the EU are registered now in Germany, where some 70 percent of disputes are adjudicated.

On software, the EU aims to harmonize how national patent laws deal with so called "computer-implemented inventions", while avoiding any "drift" toward the U.S. system that allows patenting of business methods or computer programs such as Amazon's "one-click" shopping technique. Opponents of software patents argued it would stifle innovation and restrict research, and persuaded lawmakers to broaden the exemptions from patentability. European free software advocates, Green Party activists, Socialists, economists, small business owners, and other radicals are working to keep the EU from instituting U.S.-style software patents.

Part of the sales pitch being given to the Europeans goes like: "The U.S. lets just about anybody (who can afford it) patent just about anything, and we're the world's most innovative nation, so if y'all follow our patent policy it's only a matter of time until you're producing as many innovations as we do".