Re: [Patents] Finland Patent Office for swpats

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

> To follow EPO (roughly -  I have to read more closely).
>
> > Is there any written document ?
>
> Yes, the information comes from the finnish patent office:
> http://www.prh.fi/sv/uutiset/112.html

> It says FIPTO can not wait for the directive. It has to follow the EPO,
> i.e. granting program claims ("programvarukrav godkänns").

The directive, as proposed by the European Commission, says that program
claims should not be granted.

When in the 20s the japanese Tenno decided in favor of participating in
disarmament negotiations, the "tenno-loyalist" military didn't listen to
the Tenno and instead forced the government to walk out of the
international negotiations.  And the "tenno-loyalist" government of
course didn't obey the Tenno but only the army.

The finnish patent office's treatment of the law and the European
Commission reminds me of these "tenno loyalists".

There is in fact nothing whatsoever in either the law or the legal system
that could force or encourage the FiPTO to follow the EPO.  The opposite
is true: the EPO should follow national courts, including the finnish
highest courts, and interpret the law in a cautious way, so that the high
courts don't drift apart.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
140,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/