IP: EUROPEAN BOARD VOTES TO ALLOW SOFTWARE PATENTS

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 17:19:52 +0200 (MET DST)
>From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
>To: "Prof. David Farber" <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>Subject: EUROPEAN BOARD VOTES TO ALLOW SOFTWARE PATENTS
>
>Dear Prof. David Farber,
>
>Hello -I thought this note might interest to IP list
>members..forwarded via NewsScan Daily. --Arun
>
>An administrative board for the European Patents Office has voted 10-9 to
>allow patents for software in Europe, with a final decision coming in
>November at a conference of the all the countries represented by the
>Office. Software patents are available in the U.S. and Japan, and
>multinational companies have been arguing for unlimited patenting as part
>of a uniform global legal framework. Critics, however, fear that large
>companies will use the patenting process as a tool to squelch innovative
>technologies that threaten their standard products. Among the dissenting
>countries were Germany, the U.K. and France. The head of the German
>delegation expressed his reservations over the change: "We would have
>problems with the U.S. tendency to patent everything that can be patented.
>That would stifle innovation and cause a glut of litigation." (Wall Street
>Journal 13 Sep 2000)
><http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB968792884357682385.htm>