FFII comments on rapporteur Rocard's software patents report

[Jonas Maebe <jonas.maebe@ugent.be>]

PRESS RELEASE FFII -- [ Europe / economy / ICT ]

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FFII comments on rapporteur Rocard's software patents report
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Brussels, 28 April 2005 -- The FFII warmly welcomes the report of
Michel Rocard MEP following its discussion by the European
Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) last week. The
Parliament's rapporteur for the software patent directive has
delivered a text which is notable for its clarity and explains this
complex issue in an enlightening way.

The report, titled "Working document on the patentability of computer-
controlled inventions", presents the basic problem: should software be
patentable? If not, then how do we define a clear limit which would
exclude software from patentability while devices controlled or
assisted by software means would still be patentable?

The FFII strongly supports the approach of defining this boundary
between patentable and non-patentable subject matter by means of using
controllable forces of nature. That expression is mentioned at least
ten times in the current examination guidelines of the German Patent
Office. Rocket scientists and high-energy astronomers at NASA use the
term. It is entrenched in German case law and codified in Japanese
patent law.

The forces of nature doctrine ensures that judges and policy makers
keep their ability to limit patentability if this is deemed to be in
the interest of innovation and the economy as a whole. At the same
time it guarantees patentability for inventions which require
expensive empirical experimentation and allows for a grey zone for
innovations straddling the abstract and physical worlds.

Additionally, excluding data processing from being a field of
technology ensures TRIPs compliance and provides another safeguard to
prevent pure logic innovations from becoming patentable. At the same
time, this does not mean that innovative devices used for
dataprocessing, nor e.g. automated looms, automatically become
unpatentable.

The flexibility of both approaches stands in stark contrast to the
Council text which will open up virtually any innovation to
patentability, as long as a computer is mentioned somewhere in the
patent claims. Keeping all options open is not an extreme position,
but abolishing all safeguards is.

Hartmut Pilch, President of the FFII, concludes

  Rocard's outline contains all the necessary ingredients for a
  directive that achieves what most member state governments say they
  want to achieve: to exclude computer programs from patentability
  while allowing computer-controlled technical inventions to be
  patented.

  Perhaps Rocard is showing here the same qualities that won him fame
  as the peacemaker of New Caledonia. If the MEPs can vote for Michel
  Rocard's amendments in June and July, the Parliament will then, in
  the ensuing Conciliation procedure, be able to negotiate with the
  Council from a position of strength.

JURI will take its final decision on June 20th, followed by the
Parliament's plenary vote around 6 July.

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Background Information
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* Rocard's report
    http://wiki.ffii.org/Rocard050413En

* UEAPME, which represents 11 million European SMEs, supports Rocard's
  report
     
http://www.ueapme.org/docs/press_releases/pr_2005/ 
050427_CIIcampaign.pdf

* Analysis of several sample patents and how they would or would not
  be affected by the proposed definitions
    http://swpat.ffii.org/log/05/eictasme04/#pikta

* Permanent link to this press release
    http://wiki.ffii.org/RocardPr050428En

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Contact
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Hartmut Pilch and Holger Blasum (Munich Office)
info at ffii org
tel. 0049-89-18979927

Jonas Maebe
jmaebe at ffii org
tel. 0032-485-369645

Erik Josefsson (Brussels Office)
erjos at ffii org
tel. 0032-2-7396262

Dieter Van Uytvanck:
dieter at vrijschrift.org
tel. 0031-6-275-87910

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About FFII -- http://www.ffii.org
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The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is a
non-profit association registered in several European countries, which
is dedicated to the spread of data processing literacy. The FFII
supports the development of public information goods based on
copyright, free competition, open standards. More than 500 members,
1,400 companies and 80,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act
as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights
(intellectual property) in data processing.  The FFII maintains
offices in Munich and Brussels and national supporter groups in most
European countries.