[Fsfe-uk] Software patents - some hope?

[Chris Lale]

I received this in a reply from a LibDem MEP:

"There are circumstances in which protection regimes can stifle 
creativity and subvert the public interest. Software patenting is 
potentially one of these areas. ... The Economic and Social Council of 
the European Union and the German Monopoly Commission have strongly 
criticised the Directive, as have the Liberal Democrats in this country. 
... Liberal Democrats ... will be working to ammmend the directive as it 
stands."

I wrote to several MEPs comparing a "computer-implemented invention" 
with a "literature-implemented invention" (or a "typewriter-implemented 
invention) 
(http://www.coolscience.co.uk/free-software/patent-dangers2.html). One 
Conservative MEP replied telling me that Arlene McCarthy herself has 
proposed an ammendment concerning the dubious "technical effect":

"Article 4a
Exclusions from patentability:
A computer-implemented invention shall
not be regarded as making a technical
contribution merely because it involves
the use of a computer, network or other
programmable apparatus. Accordingly,
inventions involving computer programs
which implement business, mathematical
or other methods and do not produce any
technical effects beyond the normal
physical interactions between a program
and the computer, network or other
programmable apparatus in which it is
run shall not be patentable."

Perhaps the lobbying is having some effect?. I think that the definition 
and consequences of the dubious "technical effect" are still a major 
concern though.

Chris

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