Software Patents Off The Agenda In The EU

from the who-needs-'em? dept

This isn't a huge surprise given events of the last month, but the question of software patents has been removed from the agenda of the latest EU Council meeting, at the request of the Polish representative. It sounds like, hopefully, this issue is dying out in the EU, though, it's likely that supporters will keep pushing for it next year.
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  1. identicon
    Steve Mueller, 21 Dec 2004 @ 6:48pm

    Hopefully?

    It sounds like, hopefully, this issue is dying out in the EU, though, it's likely that supporters will keep pushing for it next year.
    Why "hopefully"? I understand and agree that software patents have been misused in the U.S., but why not fix the problem instead of completely disallowing the concept?

    My suggestions are as follows:

    • Do not allow software patents that just replicate existing real-world items (shopping carts, for example)
    • Do not allow companies to buy patents and sue for infringement if they aren't creating products that use the patent.
    • Disallow business model patents entirely (unless they are truly unique).
    • Improve checking for prior art and obviousness.
    Software generally does something, just like a physical device can, and genuine innovation should be able to be patented.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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