European Reuters vs Washington Post, another age?

["Jacek Gancarson Eurofresh" <jacek.gancarson@eurofresh.se>]

>
http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=technologyNews&locale=en
_IN&storyID=3980010
>
> 11 Dec 2003 21:57 Europe's top tech firms oppose EU patent draft
>
> By Jan Strupczewski
>
> STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Europe's top five technology firms have warned the
> EU in a joint letter that 15 billion euros ($18.25 billion) of their
> annual R&D spending could be wasted if it implemented proposed changes
> to its software patent law.


I understand that European Reuters provides mostly news and not
comprehensive analysis but it can be symptomatic how narrow perspective is
presented in European Reuters news on Big 5 letter, compared to this
Washington Post
article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54548-2003Dec10.html

Not a single word is mentioned about the argumentation from FFII, so it
simply sounds as suggestion: the parliament is a bad boy.

Again: Legalisation of current patenting praxis may be not enough for
securing steady technical development - a procedure of  ordering of the
gifts through the internet has been patented by EPO. What this praxis has
common with protection of European inventions?

So current praxis is narrow-minded and not flexible enough to meet
objectives of  massive software use in internet communication.

Also Ericsson spokesman's statement on how luckily patented phones
communicated in the past, does not consider the fact that technically
communication by phones is different from the communication by the Internet:
End-user devices can and should be patented, but not the content of the
talks, as it has become praxis in case of some Internet patents!!

Doesn't the comparison of this two articles show that Americans reach longer
or going faster with making conclusions on a whole software patent debate in
Europe? (as in case of EU voting procedures;-)

Regards
Jacek Gancarson
www.eu3d.com


 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Hartmut Pilch"

Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 11:14 AM
Subject: [Patents] Reuters taking up the 5CEO FUD


>
http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=technologyNews&locale=en
_IN&storyID=3980010
>
> 11 Dec 2003 21:57 Europe's top tech firms oppose EU patent draft
>
> By Jan Strupczewski
>
> STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Europe's top five technology firms have warned the
> EU in a joint letter that 15 billion euros ($18.25 billion) of their
> annual R&D spending could be wasted if it implemented proposed changes
> to its software patent law.
>
> The letter, which was sent last month but surfaced on Thursday, was
> signed by the heads of telecoms and technology giants Nokia, Ericsson,
> Siemens, Philips and Alcatel.
>
> The companies asked the European Commission to scrap changes introduced
> to a new software patent draft by the EU parliament on September 24,
> saying they deprived their products of patent protection.
>
> "The vote in parliament...has completely turned the commission's
> original proposal around, removing effective patent protection for much
> -- and in the case of telecommunications and consumer electronics
> probably most -- of our R&D investment," they said in the letter, a copy
> of which was obtained by Reuters.
>
> "This would have devastating consequences for our companies. It would be
> open for all-comers to exploit the results of our expensive R&D
> (research and development) programmes at no cost."
>
> They sent the letter, dated November 7, to the European Union's (EU)
> Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkenstein and Information Society
> Commissioner Erkki Liikanen.
>
> An Ericsson spokesman said on Thursday he was not aware of an answer
> from the Commission yet. A spokesman for Commissioner Bolkenstein said
> he was checking if the letter had been received.
>
> Under current European Union rules software cannot be patented but
> inventions that use the software can. The new patent law drafted by the
> EU Commission aims to turn that practice into law.
>
> But the EU parliament changed the draft, introducing amendments to
> ensure patents are not used to block competing inventions.
>
> As a result, the patent protection on software-based products, like
> modern telephone exchanges, had been weakened, the five companies argued.
>
> "You could compare it with an old telephone exchange where all the parts
> were patent-protected. Today the exchange is digital and run by a
> computer programme, which under these rules could not be protected,"
> Ericsson spokesman Peter Olofsson said.
>
>
>