[Patents] Software Patents in Europe: a US-minded Policy

[Jean-Paul Smets jp@smets.com]

Here is one more document showing evidences of the US involvement into pushing
Europe to adopt patent legislations on information goods and services.

http://www.iitf.doc.gov/eleccomm/ecomm.htm

So now, everyone know why the EC green paper on electronic commerce contains
allegations that software patents are required to promote the development of
electronic commerce.

JPS.

An except from Al Gore:
-----------------------
"To create a reliable environment for electronic commerce, patent agreements
should:"..."require member countries to provide adequate and effective
protection for patentable subject matter important to the development and
success of the GII; and establish international standards for determining the
validity of a patent claim."

"The United States will pursue these objectives internationally. Officials of
the European, Japanese, and United States Patent Offices meet, for example, 
each
year to foster cooperation on patent-related issues. The United States will
recommend at the next meeting that a special committee be established within 
the
next year to make recommendations on GII-related patent issues ."

"In a separate venue, one hundred countries and international 
intergovernmental
organizations participate as members of WIPO's permanent committee on 
industrial
property information (PCIPI). The United States will attempt to establish a
working group of this organization to address GII-related patent issues."