[Patents] EU sponsored swpat advocacy

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

At

  http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/t_en/n_004_a_en.asp

you can subscribe to the IPR Helpdesk Newsletter.

IPR Helpdesk is an initiative for promoting "intellectual property"
awareness among enterprises, financed by the EU Commission's Directorate
General for Enterprises. It is also closely linked to the European Patent
Office, with Mr. Schwander acting as a liaison officer.

The IPR Helpdesk project is of course also promoting "intellectual
property" ideology between the lines, and one might suspect that its
political function of pulling the EU Commission into endorsement of the
patent movement's agenda is more constitutive than its economic function
of distributing factual knowledge.

The IPR Helpdesk pages on software patentability

=09http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/softpat/

are written rather cautiously.  They contain a lot of links to pro swpat
advocacy sites and studies, but the only link to an opposing view is that
to the League for Programming Freedom, USA, 1992.  This supports a
widespread rumor, created by some pro patent activists, that opposition to
software patentability in Europe is coming mainly from the US.

Eurolinux has written to IPR Helpdesk and asked them to add a link to our
petition, but did not get a response. There is not even a link to the
Consultation Replies web page. Instead, there is a report on one of the
replies, written in the name of the American Chamber of Commerce, which
flatly says that swpats have been good for the American economy.  There is
also a reference to a

=09"EU committee 'Software Patentability is No Threat to Innovation'"

Moreover, the Hindsight Institute, which is labelled as an "opensource
advocacy group", gets special credit for its "priorart.org" initiative,
which is said to have created a win-win situation.

Here are some excerpts from the latest IPR Helpdesk monthly newsletter, IP
Wire.  Pardon the strange letters in between:  they are due to Microsoft
specific ascii-incompatible codings used by the IPR Helpdesk texts.

--------------------------------
INTRODUCTION

In this month=92s edition of IP-Wire we highlight the growing controversy i=
n
the United States over whether the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) is legitimately serving the interests of digital copyright holders,
or being used to restrict =91fair use=92 and the civil liberty of free spee=
ch;
issues brought to the fore in two recent court cases. This item can be
found in our section From the Courts. Stories on the latest intellectual
property disputes involving Sony, Kodak, Rambus, Random House, Aimster and
MP3.com can also be found in this section.

An item in our IP-Landmarks section will inform you about the addition of
new content to the IPR-Helpdesk website: IP Thematic Pages =96 Linking You
Into Intellectual Property Knowledge.

There is a new addition to IP-Wire too: a section called Innovation, were
we will collect items of interest regarding new, innovative products and
technologies that are susceptible to intellectual property protection.

Next month we will be introducing an Interview section, where we ask
leading figures in the intellectual property world to share their insight
and opinions with us. Keep an eye open for it.

And last but nor least, we are pleased to announce that the IPR-Helpdesk
has produced a new CD-ROM. Called =93It all starts with an idea=94, it
comprises an offline copy of the entire IPR-Helpdesk website, complete
with tutorials, guides and more than 10,000 pages of intellectual property
information in English, French and German.
The CD-ROM will be issued with a forthcoming edition of the magazine
Cordis Focus.
(Click here for information on Cordis Focus)
http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/t_en/n_003_f_en.asp?urlid=3D919

As always, we hope you enjoy this latest issue of IP-Wire. We also remind
you that your comments on the articles we include, and any suggestions you
may have regarding our newsletter, are more than welcome. Kindly address
them to:
editorial@ipr-helpdesk.org mailto:editorial@ipr-helpdesk.org

img center cd2.jpg

=93It all starts with an idea=94
New IPR-Helpdesk CD-ROM
For details on availability, please e-mail the IPR-Helpdesk at:
promo@ipr-helpdesk.org mailto:promo@ipr-helpdesk.org

The IPR-Helpdesk is an intellectual property rights assistance service
created by the European Commission DGXIII-D. The newsletter IP-Wire is
published monthly on the IPR-Helpdesk website (www.cordis.lu/ipr-helpdesk)
and an email version is available by free-of-charge subscription.

In this issue:

--------------------------------------------------------------

  1.  From the Courts:
   1.1. Aimster makes legal response to accusations by the RIAA
   1.2. Random House and electronic publisher battle rights for E-books
   1.3. Widely criticized DMCA at the heart of digital copyright
controversies
   1.4. Sony and 10 other companies in patent-infringement dispute over
magnets
   1.5. $40 million copyright-infringement suit filed against MP3.com
   1.6. Kodak reaches cross-licensing agreement with Sanyo and drops
patent suit
   1.7. Rambus suffers significant losses in court
--------------------------------------------------------------

  2.  Hitting the Headlines:
   2.1. Denmark prepares to legalize copying of protected digital files
   2.2. U.S. tells Ukraine to address problem of piracy or face trade
sanctions
   2.3. IMS Health could be forced by the EC to sell licences for its
proprietary data-collection method
   2.4. American Chamber of Commerce in favour of software patentability
   2.5. PriorArt.org =97 creating a =93win-win-win=94 situation
   2.6. Delphion to introduce subscription packages
   2.7. Executives see intellectual property as area of critical
importance
   2.8. Caught in a Web: Intellectual Property in Cyberspace
   2.9. Plan to divert funds from USPTO greeted with opposition
--------------------------------------------------------------

  3.  Institutions - News & Events:
   3.1. Research DG launches news centre for European research
   3.2. Conference on Counterfeiting and Piracy
   3.3. How To Profit From Ideas: Making The Most of your Intellectual
Property
   3.4. IPR Aspects of Internet Collaborations =97 Final Report published
   3.5. PATLIB 2001, Dublin, 23-25 May
   3.6. European Commission launches the first =91Virtual Institute=92 for
research
   3.7. IPR-Helpdesk Seminar: 30 May 2001
   3.8. =91Your Software And How To Protect It=92 =96 New research funded b=
y the
Commission=92s DG Enterprise
--------------------------------------------------------------

  4.  European Patent of the Month:
   4.1. Artificial-horizon spectacles
--------------------------------------------------------------

  5.  IP Landmarks:
   5.1. IP Thematic Pages =97 New content on the IPR-Helpdesk website
--------------------------------------------------------------

  6.  Statistics:
   6.1. Jerome Lemelson: Modern-day Edison?
--------------------------------------------------------------

  7. esp@cenet:
   7.1. esp@cenet Quiz
--------------------------------------------------------------

  9. Innovation:
   9.1. Patents granted to Orang-Otang for wearable technologies
   9.2. Oxford and Cambridge Universities=92 pioneering leukaemia treatment
approved
   9.3. =91The Eagle has Hovered=92 =97 aerial rescue platform invented
   9.4. Inventor receives orders for 100 million disposable cell phones
--------------------------------------------------------------

=2E..

    2.4. American Chamber of Commerce in favour of software patentability

The EU Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels has
expressed support for the patentability of computer-implemented
inventions. Acting in response to a consultation process launched by the
European Commission last October, the EU Committee has said that
experience in the United States over the past 20 years shows no evidence
that the patenting of software there has stifled innovation, hampered the
development of open-source software or discriminated against small
companies.

Related links:
EU Committee =93Software Patentability is no Threat to Innovation=94
http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/t_en/n_003_f_en.asp?urlid=3D864
European Commission =93Replies to the Consultation Paper on the
Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions=94
http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/t_en/n_003_f_en.asp?urlid=3D911

         ------------------------------------------------

    2.5. PriorArt.org =97 creating a =93win-win-win=94 situation

Intellectual property firm IP.com and the Foresight Institute, an
open-source advocacy group, have partnered to create PriorArt.org. This
new "defensive publishing" service is intended to help open-source-code
developers protect their freedom to innovate, while reducing the number of
patents filed with =91bogus=92 claims, by giving inventors a free and easy =
way
to disclose and publish inventions they think should be in the public
domain. The PriorArt.org mission statement claims: By opening a new
communication channel between inventors, users of inventions, and patent
examiners, we create a win-win-win situation.

Related links:
PriorArt.org =93New Weapon in Fight Against Bogus Patents=94
http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/t_en/n_003_f_en.asp?urlid=3D900