Bitkom Survey

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

Through

        http://swpat.ffii.org/players/bitkom/index.en.html

at

        http://swpat.ffii.org/players/bitkom/bitkom-swpat-umfrage030120.pdf

you can now find the survey (in German) on which EICTA lobbyists base
their assertions that "our surveys show that most software companies
are in favor of patents", which they have been making at the European
Parliament and also in Berlin during the last half year.

The survey among 90 member companies basically asks "do you find
patents that patents can play an important role in strengthening a
company's bargaining position" and interprets the 82% "yes" as an "82%
in favor of software patents".

Another question comes closer to asking for a political opinion:  They
ask approximately

  Should the current possibilities for obtaining patent protection for
  computer-implemented inventions be maintained, extended or reduced?

  Here their result is

        extend: 39
        maintain: 37
        reduce: 10

Now by "computer-implemented inventions" one usually does not
understand software ideas, and most people believe that computer
programs as such are not patentable inventions.  Even FFII could have
responded to this question in a manner that would have allowed Bitkom
to present us as supporters of software patentability.

We do not know what Bitkom's exact questions were nor whom they asked,
but it is clear that they are asking from a pro-patent perspective in
order to obtain pro-patent conclusions.  They tell respondents to
imagine themselves as the patent-owner only, never as the infringer.
They are not citing any example patents or problem cases.  Also, as we
know, questionnaires like these are likely to be answered by legal
departments.

Needless to say, this survey was conducted by Bitkom's "committee on
industrial property and copyright" which is chaired by IBM's chief
patent lawyer Fritz Teufel and whose rare meetings are usually
attended only by patent lawyers from large corporations.

Also, the original questionnaire is not included in the study, and
have not been in contact with any company that participated in the
study, so we do not even really know whether it was conducted at all.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608   
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
135,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/