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EPO seeks to validate software patents without the European Parliament
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| At the highest level of the European Patent Office (EPO), the legality of
| software patents in Europe is about to be tested. The FFII warns that the
| European Parliament is being bypassed by allowing a decision with EU-wide
| implications to be made without its involvement or any real debate.
|
| The President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Alison Brimelow, has asked
| the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) to decide on the interpretation of the
| European Patent Convention (EPC) regarding the exclusion of software from
| patentability. The EBA is replacing the European Parliament in order to
| validate software patents EU-wide without the need of a debate.
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http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/EPO_seeks_to_validate_software_patents_without_the_European_Parliament
Commission repeats call for single EU patent
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| The European Commission has reiterated its demand for the creation of a
| single European patent. It said the absence of such a protection is hindering
| the growth of technology companies in the European Union.
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http://www.out-law.com/page-9878
“Staff at the European Patent Office went on strike accusing the organization
of corruption: specifically, stretching the standards for patents in order to
make more money.
“One of the ways that the EPO has done this is by issuing software patents in
defiance of the treaty that set it up.”
--Richard Stallman
Recent:
Patents for software?
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| The EPO does not grant patents for computer programs or computer-implemented
| business methods that make no technical contribution. Programs for computers
| as such are excluded from patentability by virtue of Art. 52(2)(c) and (3)
| EPC. According to this patent law, a program for a computer is not patentable
| if it does not have the potential to cause a "further technical effect" which
| must go beyond the inherent technical interactions between hardware and
| software.
|
| On the other hand, a CII (even in the form of a computer program) that can
| provide this further technical effect can be patentable, subject to the other
| patentability requirements, such as novelty and inventive step. In this case,
| it would be recognised as providing a technical solution to a technical
| problem.
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http://www.epo.org/topics/issues/computer-implemented-inventions/software.html
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