From lang@margaux.inria.fr  Fri Aug 25 16:49:20 2000
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 18:49:20 +0200
From: Bernard Lang lang@margaux.inria.fr
Subject: [Patents] FICPI presses for software patents and grace period


I would like only to point out that the FICPI states itself that its
proposition are not to be talen seriously, since they assert, in their
presentation of themselves, http://www.ficpi.org/aboutframe.html
that
  "FICPI is an organisation working for the interests of Patent and
Trademark professionals world-wide."

but they do not pretend in any way to defend the interests of the
companies that pay them, and even less the interest of the general
public or of the economy.


Bernard



On Sun, Aug 20, 2000 at 08:43:02PM +0200, PILCH Hartmut wrote:
> FICPI (Federation Internationale des Conseillers en Propriete Intellectuelle)
> passed several resolutions for further worldwide uniformisation and expansion
> of the patent system, among others in the area of software patentability,
> business methods and a grace period.
> 
> Among others, FICPI demands from the European diplomatic conference (November
> 20-29 in Munich) that
> 
> - business method patents be granted worldwide
> - publication of source code constitute a direct infringement worldwide
> - a grace period be introduced worldwide
> 
> FICPI is the kind of group that our governments are likely to listen to,
> because the decisionmakers within these governments are either members of
> FICPI or closely affiliated to the community that FICPI represents.
> 
> 
> http://www.ficpi.org/ficpi/newsletters/45/resolengl.html
> 
>    At its World Congress at Vancouver 12-16 June 2000, FICPI adopted
>    the following resolutions:
>    RESOLUTION A:
>    PRIVILEGE
>    
>    FICPI, the International Federation of Intellectual Property
>    Attorneys, broadly representative of the free profession of more than
>    70 countries, assembled at its World Congress held in Vancouver from
>    June 12 to June 16, 2000, passed the following Resolution :
>    
> ...
> 
>    Urges appropriate authorities in countries or regions which do not now
>    afford such protection to amend their laws as necessary to provide
>    legal professional privilege in relation to communications between a
>    client and a registered Intellectual Property Practitioner or
>    practitioners who are members of an accredited professional
>    association, and that all countries should recognize the legal
>    professional privilege that exists in other countries,
>    
>    And urges appropriate authorities in countries and regions to amend
>    their laws to establish an appropriate system of recognition of
>    qualified intellectual property practitioners.
>      _________________________________________________________________
>    
>    RESOLUTION B:
>    UNIFORM PROCEDURE FOR PATENT ENFORCEMENT
>    
> ...   
> 
>    Resolves that international and regional authorities, governments and
>    judiciaries should take steps to establish a uniform standard for
>    determining the scope of protection afforded by a patent.
>      _________________________________________________________________
>    
>    RESOLUTION C:
>    OFFICIAL SURPLUS 
> 
> 
>    ...
>    (patent office surpluses should not be seized by governments but used
>     by the patent offices for improving their work)
>    
>      _________________________________________________________________
>    
>    RESOLUTION E:
>    MAINTAINING THE QUALITY OF PATENT OFFICE WORK
>    
>    ...
>      _________________________________________________________________
>    
>    RESOLUTION F:
>    BUSINESS METHODS
>    
>    
>    
>    
>    FICPI, the International Federation of Intellectual Property
>    Attorneys, broadly representative of the free profession of more than
>    70 countries, assembled at its World Congress held in Vancouver from
>    June 12 to June 16, 2000, passed the following Resolution :
>    
>    Taking note 
>     a. of the proposal for removal of the exclusion from patentability of
>        inventions relating to computer programmes as such from the list
>        of exclusions in Article 52(2) of the EPC in connection with the
>        upcoming revision of the Convention, and
>     b. the development of law and practice in the United States with
>        respect to patenting of innovations relating to electronic
>        commerce,
>        
>    Having considered
>     a. the significant differences between the approach taken within the
>        existing framework of the US Patent System and maintenance of the
>        exclusion of business methods from patenting in patent legislation
>        in Europe and the risk of distortion of global trade that may be
>        caused by such differences,
>     b. the development of patenting practice in Europe and Japan leading
>        to grant of patents on computer or on software operated business
>        methods, and
>     c. the US approach including the business method patent initiative
>        action plan published by the USPTO,
>        
>    Resolves that to secure adequate IP protection to commercially highly
>    valuable innovations in information technology as applied in any
>    sector of business, including financial and E-commerce sectors, there
>    is an urgent need to harmonize conditions for patent protection in
>    this field, and
> 
> According to the patent lawyers, anything that can be commerciall exploited
> needs to be patentable.  This is in line with the EPO's base proposal.
> 
>    Urges relevant authorities at the global, regional and national
>    levels, including WIPO, WTO, the Commission of the European
>    Communities, the Administrative Council of the European Patent
>    Organization, USPTO and JPO to undertake efforts to promote such
>    harmonization.
>      _________________________________________________________________
>    
>    RESOLUTION G:
>    INTERNATIONAL GRACE PERIOD
>    
>    ...   
>    FICPI, the International Federation of Intellectual Property
>    Attorneys, broadly representative of the free profession of more than
>    70 countries, assembled at its World Congress held in Vancouver from
>    June 12 to June 16, 2000, passed the following Resolution :
>    
>    Taking note of the successful conclusion of the Patent Law Treaty on
>    June 2, 2000 and welcoming the future implementation of the Treaty in
>    national and regional patent legislation world-wide as a vital
>    instrument to further harmonization of formalities and procedural
>    provisions for the filing and prosecution of patent applications,
>    
>    Having considered 
>     1. the development of patent law at the national and regional level
>        to meet the needs of business caused by the rapidly increasing use
>        of information technology, including in particular the use of the
>        Internet for exchange of information within the scientific and
>        technological community, and
>     2. the forthcoming revision of the European Patent Convention to be
>        concluded at the Diplomatic Conference from 20th to 29th November,
>        2000,
>        
>    Confirms its previous and continued support for a harmonized
>    international grace period,
> 
> According to the expert opinion of patent lawyer Galama in
> 
> 	  http://www.epo.co.at/news/headlns/2000_07_25_e.htm
> 
> it is precisely the Internet which makes a grace period a bad idea, because
> this medium will allow other people to build on the idea during the grace
> period very quickly without knowing anything about pending patent threats. 
> 
> It is interesting that FICPI uses the quickening of communication as an
> argument for the grace period.
> 
>    Resolves that urgent reconsideration of the introduction of an
>    international novelty grace period into the laws of as many
>    territories as possible should be undertaken as an initial step to
>    further the development and harmonization of substantive patent law in
>    step with the development of technology and industry, and
>    
>    Urges the Commission of the European Community and the Administrative
>    Council of the European Patent Organization to take appropriate and
>    urgent measures to promote such reconsideration.
>      _________________________________________________________________
>    
>    RESOLUTION H:
>    SCOPE OF SOFTWARE PROTECTION
>    
>    
>    
>    
>    FICPI, the International Federation of Intellectual Property
>    Attorneys, broadly representative of the free profession of more than
>    70 countries, assembled at its World Congress held in Vancouver from
>    June 12 to June 16, 2000, passed the following Resolution :
>    
>    Taking note 
>     a. of the increasing activity in patenting of computer and software
>        related innovations in all fields of business and technology, and
>     b. the removal of restrictions or exclusions from patenting of
>        computer programmes as such in patent legislation worldwide in
>        compliance with WTO member states of obligations under the TRIPS
>        Agreement,
> 
> On the TRIPS fallacy, see http://swpat.ffii.org/stidi/trips/
>        
>    Having considered 
>     a. that when patent claims on such innovations are directed to a
>        method for performance of operations and/or a system for
>        implementation of such method, the definition of the scope of
>        protection will typically include features or elements additional
>        to the features or elements integrated in the software innovation
>        itself, and
>     b. that, under existing statutory definitions, such definition of the
>        scope of protection implies that unauthorized use of the invention
>        by a third party will amount to an act of contributory
>        infringement only, and
>     c. that in many countries the enforcement of patents against acts of
>        contributory infringement is limited to the performance of such
>        acts in respect of use of the invention as a whole (method or
>        system) within the national jurisdiction,
>        
>    Welcoming the development of practice in the EPO to accept patent
>    claims directed specifically to the software product in which the
>    innovation is enshrined,
> 
> i.e. welcoming the self-contradictory and illegal practice of the EPO.
> Self-contradictory because a software patent infringes on itself, as soon as a
> fully-enabling implementation example (i.e. a reference implementation) is
> supplied in the patent description.
> 
>    Resolves
>     a. that there is a need for worldwide harmonization on the
>        enforceability of protection for patents on computer or software
>        related inventions, and
>     b. that the protection afforded must be relevant to commercial
>        realities and commensurate with the contribution to the art made
>        by the inventor, and
>        
>    Urges relevant authorities at the international, regional and national
>    levels to provide an harmonized definition of the rights conferred by
>    a patent that takes into account such commercial realities.
> 
> This is a polite way of demanding that censorship of source code on the Internet
> must be introduced at a worldwide level.
> 
> -phm
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> http://liberte.aful.org/mailman/listinfo/patents

-- 
         Non aux Brevets Logiciels  -  No to Software Patents
           SIGNEZ    http://petition.eurolinux.org/    SIGN

Bernard.Lang@inria.fr             ,_  /\o    \o/    Tel  +33 1 3963 5644
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            INRIA / B.P. 105 / 78153 Le Chesnay CEDEX / France
         Je n'exprime que mon opinion - I express only my opinion
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