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European Parliament limits software patents
The European Parliament yesterday drastically altered the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. A long summer of intensive lobbying by an impressive European alliance of open source advocates, economists and CEOs of small and medium-sized businesses has paid off. One of the great fears about software patents, the extension to business methods like […]
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Draft EU directive on software patents withdrawn
European Parliament rapporteur Arlene McCarthy has withdrawn the draft directive on software patents. The directive will now go back to the committee stage for some more work. A new vote is scheduled for the plenary sessions between 22 and 25 September. Even though officially the European Patent Office does not allow for patents on software, […]
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Demonstration against software patents
Today, both online and off-line demonstrations were organised in a final attempt to change a proposed EU-directive on software patents. The European Parliament will vote on the proposal in the plenary session on 1 September. The demonstrations were organised by FFII. In an open letter to the members of parliament, FFII points out that the […]
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Finnish MEPs asked to vote against EU software patents
Electric Frontier Finland is gearing up its campaign against software patents while the crucial vote is closing up. As part of this project the organisation sent an open letter to Finnish MEPs, in which it asked for support for amendments on the final report of JURI, the committee on legal affairs from the European Parliament. […]
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Turmoil about voting date for EU Patent directive
A proposal to hasten the plenary vote about the EU Software Patent directive was stopped just in time. The voting date now remains set at the 1st of September. The extra time seems extra important now that the public debate about the implications of this directive has only just taken of. Last Monday, the French […]
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EP Legal Committee approves of software patents
The European Parliament’s Committee for Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI) voted Tuesday 17 June about a list of proposed amendments to the planned software patent directive. It was the third and last in a series of committee votes. The results will be presented to the parliament in plenary early in September. The other […]
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EP vote on software patents delayed
The vote in the European Parliament on a new EU Directive on Patent Law will most likely be delayed until the end of June. Originally, parliament was supposed to have voted in plenary this week. The delay is due to the immense differences in opinion between large software companies like Microsoft and IBM on the […]
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Scientists against new EU Patent Law
Last week, 30 authoritative scientists and software innovators from all over Europe signed a petition against the proposed new EU Directive on Patent Law. In their letter to members of the European Parliament they argue that allowing for patents on computer programs will seriously harm innovation in information technology and endanger the future of the […]
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Finland changes policy on software patents
Anticipating the new EU Directive on Patents, the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (PRH) decided to accept patents on software. Before, the Fins were a lot stricter than the European Patent Office. The reason for the change in policy is mind-boggling. Because the European Parliament seems to propose much more unpermissive rules […]
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New patent law on software threatens innovation
Current European patent law does not allow for patents on software, much to the dismay of large IT-companies like IBM, Intel and Cisco. In February 2002, The European Commission published a draft patent law directive that will be dealt with in a co-decision procedure with the European Parliament. The proposed text clearly reflects the strong […]
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