Re: [Patents] EC-court?

[Hartmut Pilch <phm@a2e.de>]

> How about the EC-Court?

You mean the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxemburg ?

> ... I know you probably been here before, but here I go:
> 
> It would be big-time to sue EPO for neglecting art 52, running their own
> agenda and for covering patents on plain information-handling with
> technology-terminology. We could state that computer-programs are
> information tools, and patents on how to handle information intrudes on
> methods of reasoning and and freedom of thought. We could set a bigger
> stage with a motive, a monopoly driven industry running risks of a
> transition from industrial to knowledge society.
> 
> It could perhaps bind the amendments to EC-law='information freedom',
> rather than start tangle with the term "computer-invention" and its
> like. 

All very good, but I can't see how such a lawsuit could be brought about.
The ECJ gets involved when EC law is violated.  EPC is not EC law.  It can 
also be involved on other grounds, such as distortions of the internal 
market, and such grounds could perhaps be constructed, but then again not 
everybody can invoke the ECJ. 

The possibilities of lawsuits have been discussed quite extensively, but I 
can't point to any documentation about the state of this discussion.

One possibility could be the European Human Rights Court, but that is also 
not easy.

The starting point for all of this was the Acacia case.  Opposition here
is a fairly cheap and normal path, and usually you can get to the more
remote courts only after exhausting other patents from the bottom all the
way up.  "Exhausting" is the right word.

While opposing Acacia might have some merit for ffii or other
organisations, it is also time-consuming and we are already Caselaw can be
influenced by ndr obligation to do a few other things, see

        http://www.ffii.org/proj/plan/

If we get help to fulfill these obligations, then we can of course think 
of doing more.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-18979927
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
300,000 votes 2000 firms against software patents    http://noepatents.org/