Came across this today:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4a3db4d0-c6f1-11d9-a700-00000e2511c8.html
SW patents in Europe face a rocky road. Good!
Rod
Same from XML.org:
Dramatic Changes Proposed for EU Patent Proposal Matthew Broersma, eWEEK
European parliamentarians have put forward a list of more than 200
amendments to the European Union's proposed legislation on IT patents,
which, if approved, would dramatically change the character of the
controversial proposal. At stake is whether the EU will bring in more
permissive rules on software patents, bringing it into line with patent
practices in the United States and Japan. The proposal has now returned
to the EP for a second reading, and the amendments tabled by the EP's
legal affairs committee show that parliamentarians are willing to
continue to fight for limits on software patentability. If passed, the
amendments would impose strict limits on IT-related patents, locking out
pure software from patentability. Those in favor of limits on software
patentability want the directive to make a distinction between software
with a "technical effect" and without one. Such a distinction would
allow patents on technical innovations that use software, such as
computer-controlled machinery, but block patents on pure software
workings such as processing image data or interacting with memory. The
European Information and Communications Technology Industry Association,
among other IT industry groups, argues such limits would invalidate
many existing patents and make it impossible for companies to protect
their investments in research and development.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1817365,00.asp
See also Patents and Open Standards: http://xml.coverpages.org/patents.html
JC Helary
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