European Software Patents - Update

Dr. Charles Tannock is next to respond, with a letter that seemingly took two weeks to arrive...
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Curiously, this letter is dated 1st October, yet only arrived on the 15th. Anyway, more importantly, it seems Dr. Tannock and the Conservatives in the European Parliament want to keep the status quo for European Patents, rather than adopt a US system. He supports the idea that software that forms part of a technological process should be patentable. He quotes the same examples as previous respondants.

He, and the Conservatives, have supported the amendments that "clarify" the test conditions for software. He claims these amendments improve the text and ensure the principles are upheld. He also points out that the Directive contains provisions for it's revision, should it not work as intended.

So, reading this, I think the best defense against stupid software patents is to file as many stupid ones as possible. The big businesses that would benefit from stupid patents arn't stupid - they'll hold off until the review period is over and things have settled down. So, the key seems to be to ensure it never really gets settled, and goes back into debate. Interesting...

Submitted by coofercat on Thu, 2003-10-16 17:29