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[FYI] New Software Patent Law for Europe Looking Limited
- To: debate@lists.fitug.de
- Subject: [FYI] New Software Patent Law for Europe Looking Limited
- From: "Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>
- Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 17:40:37 +0200
<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/06/business/worldbusiness/06PATE.html
?ei=1&en=fd8087d0f42d3a9d&ex=1003379311&pagewanted=print>
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October 6, 2001
New Software Patent Law for Europe Looking Limited
By PAUL MELLER
RUSSELS, Oct. 5 — The European Union appears to be moving toward
unified regulations for software patents that would be less
encompassing than regulations in the United States and Japan.
Competition officials at the European Commission, the executive arm
of the 15-nation union, met Wednesday with their colleagues in charge
of drafting a new law for the union, to press their case for limiting
its scope. Their concern is that overly protective patent regulation
could hinder competition by helping large software manufacturers
maintain their dominant positions.
A person involved in the discussions said the concerns of the
competition officials had been met. "We haven't agreed on a final
position, but I don't anticipate any further difficulties in getting
the draft directive approved within the commission," he said.
The approach being adopted by the commission would allow patents only
for software of a technical nature, and it would not permit patents
on business methods. The United States and Japan allow patents on a
much wider range of software applications, and they both permit
patents for business methods.
[...]
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