FW: European parliament rejects software patents

[Mark Schonewille]

Walton,

The question the EP had to deal with was: are we going to 
replace the current set of agreements on national copyrights by 
a more clearly formulated European Direction on national 
copyrights? Apparently, it has been decided to keep everything 
as it is, for now.

In the US, software is considered a "technology". This means 
that it can be patented. In Europe, only intellectual property 
such as algorithms and file formats can be patented, because 
they are considered technology. Everything else is considered 
the result of an author's work, using the available technology.

In Europe, everything a software developer makes is copyrighted, 
immediately. As long as you keep working on it, it stays your 
piece of art. Only if you stop working on it, you may loose your 
copyrights in about 5 years. If you are not sure that you will 
update your software product regularly, you may want to register 
it. If you register it, you get official copyrights, protected 
by law, rather than a patent.

Losing your copyright does not necessarily mean that people can 
use it freely. It only means that it is not protected by law. If 
you don't register your product within 5 years, people using 
your product may not recognize your authorship. You are still 
the author, however, and you can always take up your own work 
and exploit it.

*All claims in the quoted message are completely wrong and I 
consider the message a hoax. There isn't even a "European Patent 
Office"!*

If the EP had passed the Direction on software patents, 
everything could have been patented. Every single button that 
you use would represent a concept, which could be patented by 
the inventors of this concept. Windows, scroll bars, arrays, 
sockets, list fields... everything would have become patentable 
and you would have to pay for it.

This was not the purpose of this Direction, but the result of a 
mere flaw in the formulation of the Direction. If the 
formulation is changed during the next few years, we may get a 
good and clear Direction. The main advantage of this is that 
both European and American developers understand what they may 
have to do to protect their work. The Direction that may pass EP 
next time, will probably not allow for patenting every single 
concept used in an interface.

I think the EP made a wise decision (as expected, in this case). 
Additionally, this decision is much more a sign of faith in 
current EU institutions than a sign of lost faith in the EU as a 
whole.

I don't expect the Revolution team to have a "take" on this. 
Nothing will change, all copyrights Runtime Revolution holds are 
well-protected, as are yours and mine. Only if the EP had passed 
the guideline, I would have started worrying.

For more information, read the Editor notes on this website:
<http://www.patent.gov.uk/media/pressrelease/2005/0607a.htm>

Best regards,

Mark


Walton Sumner wrote:
> Here's a message I received from another mailing list. I'm curious what the
> Revolution team's take is on this. I can not tell if the parliament's
> proposal was to stop patenting software logic, or software products in
> general (as some clearly desire), or if there is a difference, how you make
> the distinction. 
> 
> Would this shackle or unshackle software giants? How do you think it affects
> Rev's future? 
> 
> As a USA consumer intermittently relying on commercial European software
> innovation (XMLSpy, Revolution), I'd be disappointed to see it end, or even
> to see quality deteriorate.
> 
> --Walt Sumner
> 
> 
> ------- Forwarded Message
> ....
> 
> No software patents in Europe, FSFE requests EPO review instrument
> 
> *After years of struggle, the European Parliament finally rejected the
> software patent directive with 648 of 680 votes: A strong signal against
> patents on software logic, a sign of lost faith in the European Union
> and a clear request for the European Patent Office (EPO) to change its
> policy: the EPO must stop issuing software patents today
> 
> http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q3/000109.html
> _______________________________________________
> os-wg mailing list
> ....
> 
> ------ End of Forwarded Message

-- 

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