[Patents] A few documents

[Jean-Paul Smets smets@ens.fr]

Questions
---------
For those who want to know which questions were sent bt DG15 about "software 
patents",
        http://www.freepatents.org/agree/questions.html
This document clearly shows that the commission never considered at any time 
a "less software patents" approach and did not take into account the 
possibility not to patent software within the TRIPS
framework (read Paul Hartnack, Comptroller General, The Patent Office on this 
http://www.patent.gov.uk/softpat/en/1000.html) 

A few examples
--------------
I also posted a few examples of patents granted by the EPO (like one click) 
or being filed at ?
        http://www.freepatents.org/examples
        http://www.freepatents.org/examples/epo/list

HELP US TO SEARCH
-----------------
PLEASE HELP ME TO FIND MORE EXAMPLES OF FUNNY/STUPID SOFTWARE OR INTERNET 
PATENTS
(and send them to jp@smets.com as well as phm@a2e.de with subject : STUPID 
PATENT)

To search more examples, just use
        http://ep.espacenet.com/
(it's easy) and in French
        http://lu.espacenet.com/
(Luxemborg has a better UI. INPI is much harder to use)

For example, if you type "auction" in the "simple text" field, you get a list 
which includes
  EP0987644 System and method for conducting an electronic auction over an 
open communications network
I am interedted only the the references starting by EP

If you type "amazon" in the company field, you get a list. Go to page 2 and 
you will find the "one-click" patent under EP***** reference.

For more information on patent searching
        http://www.freepatents.org/examples/patent_searching.html
(I did not write this masterpiece, someone at EC did)

JPS.