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[DMCA-Activists] ZDNet: Protests Delay Software Patents Vote
From: |
Seth Johnson |
Subject: |
[DMCA-Activists] ZDNet: Protests Delay Software Patents Vote |
Date: |
Tue, 02 Sep 2003 15:25:03 -0400 |
> http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5070092.html?tag=fd_top
Protests delay software patents vote
By Matthew Broersma
September 1, 2003
The European Parliament has delayed voting on a controversial software-
patents directive, after protests and criticism by computer scientists
and economists.
The vote, originally planned for Monday, will now take place at a
plenary session starting Sept. 22.
Software patents have been likened to allowing a monopoly on the ideas
behind stories, and opponents of the proposed Directive on the
Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions claim it would
effectively allow unlimited software patents. In the United States,
large companies acquire arsenals of patents that they use to protect
themselves from upstart competition.
The directive, drafted by Labor Member of European Parliament Arlene
McCarthy, has generated political opposition from the Greens and the
European Socialist Party (PSE), among others. The German and French
socialist parties are using the delay as an opportunity to raise MEPs'
awareness of the issues surrounding software patents ahead of the late-
September plenary session.
A demonstration last week in Brussels, Belgium, that attracted more
than 400 participants was organized by the Foundation for a Free
Information Infrastructure (FFII) and Eurolinux, among other groups,
which also persuaded several hundred Web sites to black out their
front pages in protest.
A June vote on the proposal was put back amid criticism by MEPs that
the legislation would institute a U.S.-style patent atmosphere that
would be detrimental to European small businesses and open-source
software developers.
The proposed software-patenting legislation is the result of a
European Commission effort to clarify patenting rules as they apply
to "computer-implemented inventions," a term that can be taken to
include software. The patent offices of different EU member states
have different criteria for accepting the validity of software-related
patents, a situation that the Commission's proposal aims to remedy.
MEP McCarthy said in a June analysis of the proposed directive that
there were links between the patentability of computer-related
inventions and the growth of IT industries in the United States. Such
patents aided "in particular the growth of small and medium
enterprises and independent software developers," she wrote, citing a
study on the issue carried out for the European Parliament by London's
Intellectual Property Institute.
But in a recent letter criticizing the directive, a group of
economists poured scorn on any notion that software patents and
business growth are connected, saying most economic research does not
support this claim. They argued that the directive in its current form
would "have serious detrimental effects on European innovation,
growth, and competitiveness."
Matthew Broersma of ZDNet UK reported from London.
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