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European Patent Office warns of "Global Patent Warming"
,----[ Quote ]
| The European Patent Office (EPO) is warning of "Global Patent Warming" in
| light of the growing number of patent applications it is receiving. At the
| AIPPI (Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété
| Intellectuelle) Congress that closed today in Boston, EPO head Alison
| Brimelow said that the increasing number of patent applications is currently
| the biggest problem that patent offices face and is slowing down the issue of
| patents.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/115941
Recent:
Truth, transparency and the role of academic research
,----[ Quote ]
| As you are certainly aware, one of the aims of the `Better Regulation' policy
| that is part of the Lisbon agenda is to increase the transparency of the EU
| legislative process. By wilfully ignoring scientific analysis and evidence
| that was made available to the Commission upon its own initiative, the
| Commission's recent Intellectual Property package does not live up to this
| ambition. Indeed, the Commission's obscuration of the IViR studies and its
| failure to confront the critical arguments made therein seem to reveal an
| intention to mislead the Council and the Parliament, as well as the citizens
| of the European Union.
|
| In doing so the Commission reinforces the suspicion, already widely held by
| the public at large, that its policies are less the product of a rational
| decision-making process than of lobbying by stakeholders. This is troublesome
| not only in the light of the current crisis of faith as regards the European
| lawmaking institutions, but also - and particularly so - in view of European
| citizens' increasingly critical attitudes towards intellectual property law.
|
| I hereby urge the Commission to fully inform the European Parliament and the
| Council of Ministers of the findings of our studies in connection with the
| above-mentioned proposals and to duly and properly reference our work in
| future policy initiatives.
|
| Copies of this letter will be sent to Mr. C. McCreevy (Commissioner DG Market
| and Services), the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.
`----
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2008/08/truth-transparency-and-role-of-academic.html
Commission adviser accuses Barroso of intentionally misleading European
policy-makers and citizens on copyright
,----[ Quote]
| When the European Commission put forward their proposal to retrospectively
| extend the copyright term granted to sound recordings, locking away vast
| swathes of our cultural heritage in a commercial vacuum for 45 years, it was
| clear that they had rejected all the expert evidence in favour of voodoo
| economics.
|
| Now Professor Bernt Hugenholtz has written a letter to Commission President
| Jose Manuel Barroso asking why. Huggenholtz, Director of the Institute for
| Information Law (IViR), which was tasked by the European Commission to look
| into the arguments for and against extending copyright term, says his team
| were “surprised” to discover that their studies had been completely ignored,
| and that statements the Commission have made that “there was no need for
| external expertise” in drafting the proposal were “patently untrue”.
`----
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/08/21/commission-adviser-accuses-barroso-of-intentionally-misleading-european-policy-makers-and-citizens-on-copyright/
EC proposes overhaul of patents and industrial rights
,----[ Quote ]
| The European Commission has proposed creating a single strategy for the
| protection of industrial property rights in Europe. The Commission wants to
| integrate its strategy for industrial property rights and encourage smaller
| businesses to protect rights.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/30/ec_industrial_rights_proposal/
Extension of sound recordings and performers’ rights: an issue of fairness
,----[ Quote ]
| In setting up the rationalist background of his title, Professor Bently noted
| that the 2004 EC Staff Working Paper, the Gowers Report, and the
| EC-commissioned IVIR report had all approached the question rationally, with
| evidence-based and economic reasoning. Each had come out against extension.
`----
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2008/07/extension-of-sound-recordings-and.html
Term Extension “will damage Commission’s reputation”, top legal advisers tell
Barroso
,----[ Quote ]
| Today, the leading European centres for intellectual property research have
| released a joint letter to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso,
| enclosing an impact assessment detailing the far reaching and negative
| effects of the proposal to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings.
| [...] “This Copyright Extension Directive, proposed by Commissioner Mccreevy,
| is likely to damage seriously the reputation of the Commission..."
`----
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/06/18/term-extension-will-damage-commissions-reputation-top-legal-advisers-tell-barroso/
EU Internal Market and Services: Legislative strategy
,----[ Quote ]
| Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has chosen...
|
| [...]
|
| Work continues on the patent litigation system and on the Community patent.
| Since the Commission adopted the Communication "Enhancing a patent system in
| Europe" in April 2007, it has been actively working towards a consensus on
| the key elements among Member States in the Council under the German,
| Portuguese and Slovenian Presidency in the Council.
`----
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/eu_baltics/?doc=2974
Anger as IP sacrificed for interoperability
,----[ Quote ]
| Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology, said
| the EU scored an own goal with the document. "It aims to facilitate digital
| cooperation among European administrations, but in effect it excludes many
| well-established technologies from being used for e-Government services due
| to a narrow definition of open standards."
`----
http://www.managingip.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1964355&LS=EMS189365
The Commission's incoherent approach to IP imperils Europe's economic future
,----[ Quote ]
| And alongside a Community patent we need a single European patent
| jurisdiction through which we can end the current patchwork of often
| contradictory decisions in patent cases handed down by national courts. On
| top of this, just three years ago the Commission was telling us that we
| needed a Computer Implemented Inventions directive to harmonise the treatment
| of software patents, again to help SMEs and to provide certainty in the
| software market. In short, the Commission tells us that patents are good and
| patents are vital to Europe’s prosperity.
|
| [...]
|
| So, a go-getting and smart European SME may well have invested significant
| time and money in developing world-class software. It may have followed the
| advice of commissioners McCreevy and Verheugen to get patent protection, but
| when it comes to putting that software into a potentially lucrative
| pan-European project, it’s no can do.
`----
http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=dee4d291-84a6-41dd-b606-05facca4b7df
Campaign4Creativity is back in software patents lobbying
,----[ Quote ]
| Simon Gentry is back in software patents lobbying. Now his role is to push
| for legalisation of software patents via the creation of central patent court
| in Europe.
`----
http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-69333/campaign4creativity-is-back-in-software-patents-lobbying
[ffii] McCreevy wants to legalise Software Patents via a US-EU patent treaty
,----[ Quote ]
| Brussels, 13 May 2008 -- European Commissioner McCreevy is pushing for a
| bilateral patent treaty with the United States. This Tuesday 13 May in
| Brussels, White House and European representatives will try to adopt a
| tight roadmap for the signature of a EU-US patent treaty by the end of
| the year. Parts of the proposed treaty will contain provision on
| software patents, and could legalise them on both sides of the Atlantic.
|
| "TEC talks are the current push for software patents. The US want to
| eliminate the higher standards of the European Patent Convention. The
| bilateral agenda is dictated by multinationals gathered in the
| Transatlantic Economic Business Dialogue (TABD). When you have a look
| who is in the Executive Board of the TABD, you find not a single
| European SME in there", says Benjamin Henrion, a Brussels based patent
| policy specialist.
|
| The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) which comprises EU and US high
| level representatives put a substantive harmonisation of patent law on
| its agenda. Substantive patent law covers what is patentable or not. The
| attempt to impose the low US standards on Europe via the Substantive
| Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) process utterly failed at the World
| Intellectual Property Organisation. Also progress in the WIPO B+
| subgroup (without development nations) could not be reached.
`----
http://lwn.net/Articles/282000/
Preparation of the Competitiveness Council of Ministers, Brussels, 29/30 May
2008
,----[ Quote ]
| Ministers will discuss a progress report on this issue prepared by the
| Slovenian Presidency. Commissioner McCreevy will encourage Member States to
| continue to work constructively in this process.
`----
http://7thspace.com/headlines/282551/preparation_of_the_competitiveness_council_of_ministers_brussels_2930_may_2008.html
Not All Patents Created Equal, Technology Policy Experts Say
,----[ Quote ]
| The efficacy of the patent system is not equivalent across all industries,
| and appears to be particularly ineffective in software, said a panel at the
| Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference held at Yale University last week.
|
| [...]
|
| A lot of unpatented prior art, which does not make it into considerations at
| the patent and trademark office, said Berger, could add to this problem. She
| added that EFF is working with open source company Mozilla to crease a
| wiki-style platform of prior art in software they hope can be eventually used
| by patent examiners.
|
| Efforts have failed so far in terms of patent reform, she said, citing the
| status of the Patent Reform Act as “dead in the water” in the US Congress for
| the time being, and asking what people interested in technology policy might
| do about this problem.
`----
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1065
Court revokes Aerotel's landmark patent
,----[ Quote ]
| Patent attorneys, lawyers, judges and businesses have often had trouble
| determining exactly what inventions are and are not eligible for patent
| protection, particularly where the invention involves software. A 2006 ruling
| in the Court of Appeal was designed to settle the issue by clarifying the
| rules that patent examiners and judges should apply to assess whether
| inventions are for patentable subject matter.
|
| [...]
|
| "The election to solicit pre-pay clientele is unarguably a 'business
| method'," wrote Judge Fysh. "The consequence in 'computer terms' forms no
| part of the invention; it is done with appropriate software. Moreover, even
| if it did form part of the invention, it would therefore only involve the
| construction of appropriate computer programs and would also be excluded from
| patentability."
`----
http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=9150
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