[Patents] German speaker wanted.

[Stefane Fermigier sf@fermigier.com]

Hi,

I've just found this article the Financial Times Deutschland:

http://www.ftd.de/tm/te/FTD962824480673.html?nv=hptn

``EU-Kommission entscheidet sich gegen Software-Patente''

My german is too weak to see if there is something really new in this article.

A rough translation (from babelfish) gives:

--

European Union commission decides against software patents of Boris Groendahl,
Hamburg, email groendahl.boris@ftd.de The European commission will itself in
their for this summer expected directive to patents for software against an
expansion of the patent law to express. Afterwards in Europe pure computer
programs further will not be patentable. This corresponds to the past
regulation in the European patent law. From commission sets the Financial 
Times
Germany that one sees only requirement for a legal clarification, experienced
not however for a modification of the past procedure. Thus the commission 
would
decide against the imitation of the patent policy pursued at present in the
USA. There patents for software programs are generously given. This practice 
of
the US patent office caused fears that European software companies could come
into the hintertreffen. The European commission bends obviously the view too
that the opposite is the case.  The directive, with whose creation the
management is responsible domestic market, is not final yet. The process
progressed however " very far ", is called it from the commission. One wants 
to
copy " in no case the US policy ". Software as such is to be also further
usually protected by copyright.  Only in exceptional cases patents for 
software
are to be given: if it is the controlling part of a technical system. The
European patent office already gave patents on this basis for 20.000 "
software-referred inventions ". 

The software patent law is a strongly disputed subrange with the legal
protection of mental property. As with the patent law it always goes promoting
the technical progress around the implementation of the target. In the opinion
of the proponents of software patents no incentive for technical developments
exists, if these cannot be protected.  The opponents refer to the existing
protection by copyright and to it that innovations within the software area 
run
differently than in other sectors. The complex structure of software causes
that Innovatoren encircles itself from patents for mini inventions would 
regain
and energy and resources went into legal of controversy instead of into the
technical development. 

While large concerns hold such as Microsoft and IBM in the USA numerous
software patents, European enterprises express themselves rather against this
practice. Dirk Hohndel, technique executive committee of the Nuernberger Suse
Linux: " patents are a danger for the software industry in Europe.  The
verabschiedung of such a directive would be a step into the correct direction.
The international patent agreement Trips releases it to the participating
states to exclude software from the patenting barness. In the USA valid
patents for computer programs are not however effective in Europe. The way
praeferierte by the commission, only to want however back doors " get
straight, open " the European patent law. Enterprises as for instance IBM
showed themselves as so findig in the interpretation of the valid European
patent declaration/agreement that many here already a back door for patenting
of software wittern.  

--

        S.

-- 
Stéfane Fermigier, Tel: 06 63 04 12 77 (mobile).
<www.portalux.com>: le portail Linux / logiciel libre.
"Amazon: we patent the dot in .com"