Patents on Computer-Implemented Inventions: UK Courts Inching Towards EPO
Positions?
,----[ Quote ]
| As a consequence of this particular piece of UK case law, the UK Patent
| Office UK-IPO had established a practice of flatly rejecting patent claims to
| computer program products contrary to the practice of the EPO. Last year,
| five companies, namely Astron Clinica Limited, Cyan Holdings Plc, Inrotis
| Technologies Limited, Software 2000 Limited and Surf Kitchen, Inc., INTERNAL
| LINKhad appealed against this restrictive practice.
|
| Now, and this seems to be quite surprising, the table appears to be turned
| again: On the well-known EXTERNAL LINKIPKat Blog, EXTERNAL LINKMr David
| Pearce reports that the Honourable Mr Justice Kitchin has ruled yesterday
| that the current UK Patent Office practice of flatly rejecting patent claims
| to computer program products is wrong.
|
| [...]
|
| Mr Pearce characterises himself as being quite amazed by the judgment because
| before the recent judgement he had been convinced that, under the system of
| UK case law, there was no room for manoeuver after Aerotel/Macrossan, and he
| asks the important question as to whether the UK-IPO can simply all go back
| to falling into line with the EPO, or if they will judge that this one is
| worth going further on.
`----
http://www.ipjur.com/2008/01/patents-on-computer-implemented.php3
High Court allows computer program patent claims
,----[ Quote ]
| In conclusion then, Kitchin J found that the appeals should be allowed. Each
| application concerned a computer related invention where the examiner had
| allowed claims to, in effect, a method performed by running a suitably
| programmed computer and to a computer programmed to carry out the method.
`----
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2008/01/high-court-allows-computer-program.html
Court gives hi-tech companies the power to patent software
,----[ Quote ]
| Hi-tech companies will be able to patent software programs after a key court
| decision that may move the UK closer to Europe in its treatment of
| computerrelated inventions.
|
| The High Court yesterday said that the Patent Office was incorrectly applying
| the law in automatically rejecting claims for computer programs, in a case
| brought by four small British businesses.
`----
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4732f070-cbb2-11dc-97ff-000077b07658.html
Related and recent:
Interview with Richard M. Stallman
,----[ Quote ]
| It is important to know this because we will always face pressure, from those
| who are powerful and would like to take away our freedom, to surrender our
| freedom—and they frequently offer us something attractive in exchange. For
| instance, B’liar wanted to abolish the Rights of Englishmen, and to serve his
| American master, Bush, faithfully; so he offered Britons “protection” from
| this or that, plus the imagined idea that he influences his master on their
| behalf through the “special relationship”.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/interview_with_richard_stallman
Big businesses boast of patent benefits, for small businesses
,----[ Quote ]
| A report published by an EU task force on intellectual property claims
| that small businesses benefit from a patent system, despite lacking
| almost any participation by the small business community.
|
| Instead, the report, titled IPR (intellectual property rights) for
| competitiveness and innovation, was written up almost entirely by
| large corporations and the patent industry.
|
| [...]
|
| The report does note objections from the likes of patentfrei.de and
| Sun Microsystems, which were recorded at some length in the report.
| But this does not appear to have impacted the conclusion of the
| report in any way
|
| [...]
|
| Jean-Pierre Laisne, of ObjectWeb, an open source software community,
| said that he found the report useless: participants were told that
| all their contributions would be recorded but at the end only
| those of Business Software Alliance and Microsoft were used.
`----
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/99155/big-businesses-boast-of-patent-benefits-for-small-businesses.html
A Patent Lie
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft sang a very different tune in 1991. In a memo to his
| senior executives, Bill Gates wrote, "If people had understood how
| patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented,
| and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete
| standstill today." Mr. Gates worried that "some large company will
| patent some obvious thing" and use the patent to "take as much of
| our profits as they want."
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/opinion/09lee.html
Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'
,----[ Quote ]
| leaked letter to the European Commission has revealed the extent of
| lobbying by proprietary software groups to prevent the widespread
| adoption of open-source software.
|
| Sent in response to a recent report on the role of open-source
| software in the European economy, Microsoft-funded pressure
| group, the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) warned of
| potentially dire effects if too much encouragement was given
| to open source software development.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=7109
EPO says UK patent law is clear enough
,----[ Quote ]
| Article 52, clause 2, outlines items that do not qualify for
| patent protection, under European and UK law, and includes
| "schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing
| games or doing business, and programs for computers".
|
| Exactly how this clause should be interpreted has been extremely
| contentious, with passionate arguments on both sides of the debate.
| Some fear that too broad an interpretation could lead to US-style
| software idea patents being granted in the UK. Others are
| concerned that if it is interpreted too narrowly, it will
| discourage innovation in the UK.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/19/epo_says_no/
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