[Gllug] european software patents

[Mark Hill]

On Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 06:07:51PM +0100, Mark Hill wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 01, 2003 at 11:31:12AM +0200, will wrote:
> > Alex Hudson[0] of the FSF europe tells me that the vote on european
> > software patents has been posponed until September the 1st
> 
> I sent an e-mail to the office of London's Green Party MEP Jean Lambert
> this afternoon, and below is the reply I received. I thought some would
> find it interesting reading.

I sent a similar e-mail to London's two other MEPs, John Bowis (Con)
and Baroness Ludford (LibDem) as well as Robert Evans, who's part of 
the Labour European Team for London. So far, I've had a reply from John
Bowis, which is detailed below.  

=======================================================================
From: "John   Bowis" <jbowis at europarl.eu.int>

Thank you for your letter regarding the upcoming Directive on the
patentability of computer-implemented inventions (software patents)
currently under discussion in the European Parliament.  

The European Commission published the draft Directive in February of
last year as it become increasingly clear that European law on patenting
software needed to be clarified.  The aim of the Directive is to set out
and defend the status quo in Europe following changes to the patent
system in the USA and also planned for Japan.  There is a clear
intention across the EU Member States to see that Europe does not follow
the USA and Japan in allowing widespread patent availability for
software and business methods.  Copyright will remain the principal
method of protecting intellectual property in these cases. 

My colleagues who have taken a particular interest in this have
supported the general line that the Commission has taken which builds on
and clarifies the existing patent law across the European Union and
makes it clear that only software which forms part of a technological
process will be patentable.  This will allow patents to be provided for
genuine technical inventions and stimulate European economic development
in areas of economic strength like mobile telephony, digital television
and computer controlled machine tools to name just a few possibilities.
I understand from my colleagues who serve on the Committee concerned
that there is no intention to allow generic patenting of software in
Europe.

With best wishes 

Yours sincerely

John Bowis MEP
=======================================================================

-- 
Mark Hill

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