[Patents] re. consultation and conference

[Steve Probert steve.probert@patent.gov.uk]

>Sorry to bother with a silly question, but I can't seem to find a better 
>place
>to ask this:

>The 'official consultation' launched by the European
>Commission is open until december 15.  But the inter-
>governmental conference on the changes of the treaty
>in Munchen is from 20 - 29 November.  Isn't the outcome
>of the consultation going to come too late?

The EPO is not administered by the European Commission, and has a
different (though overlapping) membership.  Fifteen of the twenty
contracting parties to the EPC (who will be represented at the Munich
Conference) are also member states of the European Union.  The UK
position is that it would make sense for the member states of the
European Union to vote against any amendment of the EPC in relation to
the software exclusion, at least until after the consultation exercise
has been completed.  I believe a number of other member states feel the
same way.  However, it will require a three quarters majority at the
Munich Conference to prevent the amendment from being approved.

If the amendment is approved in Munich, and subsequently the member
states decide (following the consultation exercise) that it would be
better to keep the exclusion (or modify the law in some other way), then
presumably it will be possible to change the EPC again.  But some would
say that this would be very messy, and hope that such a situation can be
avoided.


-- 

Steve Probert
Deputy Director
The Patent Office