[Patents] New WIPO drive for unlimited patentability and limits on patent quality

[info@ffii.org (info@ffii.org)]

Das German Ministry of Justice drew our attention to new negotiation
rounds at the WIPO level.  You can find an overview at


        http://verein.ffii.org/cnino/010411bmj/

(mostly in German).

The basic aim of all these rounds is the worldwide expansion and
uniformisation of the patent system by amendments to existing treaties
(PCT) and creation of new treaties (SPLT).

The proposed new "Substantive Patent Law Treaty) aims to impose

        - unlimited patentability, including the explicit deletion or voiding
          of the delimiting criteria of "technical character" and "industrial
          application"
        - strict limitations on patent quality, i.e. setting of upper
          limits to what national patent systems may demand from the patentee
          as to how claims and descriptions are to be written

at a level of international law, far removed from legislative rights
of democratic sovereigns and accountability to such sovereigns.

According to our view, any harmonisations of the patent systems should
not take the form of binding treaties but only of voluntary consent
papers and memoranda of understanding between patent administrations.
The only axiom that deserves regulation at an international level
should be something like the following:

   Patents shall be available for inventions of any type, provided
   that most social scientists, technology experts and members of
   the interested public in the whole world have, after adequate
   study, agreed that granting such patents is beneficial to the 
   progress of science and technology and to the overall welfare
   of the world's people.

The patent lawyers at the United Nations have strayed far away from
this possible basis of international consensus.  They seem to feel
very sure about their inalienable right to expropriate the people of
the world for the benefit of a small group of patent lawyers and their
allies in multinational corporations.

A detailed presentation and evaluation of the WIPO plans can be found
under 

        http://verein.ffii.org/cnino/010411bmj/splt/
        Substantive Patent Law Treaty
        WIPO Patent Lawyers attempt to secure unlimited patentability
        and impose strict limitations on patent quality at the world
        level

Please tell us your view about this and the other WIPO proposals.
We hope to report more about this subject soon.


Hartmut Pilch
Federation for a Free Information Infrastructure
info@ffii.org