Re: [Patents] Austrian Gov't Instructions for Unlimited Patentability

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>]

I have not been following too closely, but isn't it the case that the
Austrian government has swung to the left.

There is a distinct possibility, as is often the case, that this is
handled locally directly by the patent lobby (patent office) without
anyone being aware of issues at government level
  (as happened in France in 2000 , with the preparation of the EPO
diplomatic conference).

It might be interesting to publish a commented copy of this document,
in English and German, and to snd it to government officials in
Austria.

BTW, individuals acting on their own without referring to political
authority seems to be too common, when IP is concerned.  I have heard
of others, and I am trying to get confirmation.

In the UK, it is simply the standard procedure to let the UKPO decide
alone.

Bernard


On Thu, May 06, 2004 at 12:39:30PM +0200, Hartmut Pilch wrote:
> Via the news page
> 
>       http://kwiki.ffii.org/SwpatcninoEn
> 
> you can click to a new government from the Austrian Technology Ministery 
> (BMVIT) which instructs the Coreper diplomats to give 100% support to the 
> Council presidency, arguing that
> 
>   - the text excludes patentability of software and business methods
>   - EPO practise must be upheld
>   - calculation rules that make a computer run faster must be patentable
>   - Parliament was swayed by anti-patent extremists
>   - there is a "growing consensus" for the Council position, no need
>     for discussion at ministerial level
> 
> Austrian MEPs of all parties have mostly taken the "anti-patent" view in 
> the EP, whereas the government continues to leave matters to the PTO, 
> which has been promoting 100% pro-swpat views for years and was even quite 
> isolated at the 2000 inter-governmental conference in this respect 
> (AT and CH being the only countries to insist on deletion of "programs for 
> computers" from list of non-inventions in Art 52 (2)).
> 
> I have written to at-parl at ffii org and rung up some people.
> It is really time for austrians to activate their parliament now.
> 
> A template for a parliamentary resolution is found at
> 
>       http://kwiki.ffii.org/ParlReso0405De
>       http://kwiki.ffii.org/ParlReso0405En
>       http://kwiki.ffii.org/ParlReso0405Fr
> 
> -- 
> Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-18979927
> Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation             
> http://swpat.ffii.org/
> 320,000 votes 2000 firms against software patents    http://noepatents.org/
> 
> 

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