LinuxPR: European Patent Office proposes unlimited patentability - IT professionals demand control

Aug 15, 2000, 18:16 (4 Talkback[s])

"The European Patent Office (EPO) wants to induce European governments to remove all legal restrictions on patentability in november 2000. The German Federal Ministery of Justice (BMJ) distributed a "Base Proposal for the Revision of the European Patent Convention" dated 2000-06-27 to the "circles interested in the patent system" at the beginning of August."

"The Association for the Promotion of a Free Informational Infrastructure (FFII) sent an open letter to the BMJ, in which it pointed out some inconsistencies in the EPO's proposal and warned about devastative effects of the EPO's expansive patent policy on innovation, competition, prosperity, education and civil rights."

"Recent studies show, that the European Patent Office examiners tend to grant patents on immaterial objects (such as software and business methods) even more generously than the USPTO and JPO colleagues. According to a Japanese comparative study, the EPO applies even lower standards for assessing the inventivity of immaterial objects. Moreover, for the purpose of examining the technicity of business methods, the EPO even plans to abandon its traditional request that these methods should have an "additional technical effect" beyond the ordinary use of the computer, as soon as the limitations on patentability are removed by the legislator as proposed by the EPO."

Press Release