[FYI] Matthew Broersma : Software patent limits 'go too far'
<http://www.zdnet.co.uk/print/?TYPE=story&AT=39116709-39020651t-10000
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Software patent limits 'go too far'
Matthew Broersma
September 26, 2003, 17:50 BST
The European Parliament may have ruined its opportunity to reform the
EU's software patents system with Wednesday's vote to approve the
Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions,
according to a patent law expert.
The decision to adopt several amendments to the highly controversial
directive, fundamentally altering its effects, is likely to lead to
the directive's withdrawal by the European Commission, according to
Alex Batteson, IT expert at British intellectual property law firm
Bristows. He suggested that this might not be a bad thing, since
patent reform could then be formulated by patent law specialists,
without the need for democratic scrutiny.
"It may sound undemocratic, but the amended proposals arguably
demonstrate that the issues being debated here are too complex to be
left to the European Parliament, which can hardly be expected to have
in-depth expertise in patent matters," Batteson said in a statement.
"The amendments certainly appear to have irritated Frits Bolkestein
at the Commission and he may decide to abandon the directive in
favour of a renegotiation of the European Patent Convention. This
would take the issue out of the hands of the Parliament and give it
to national delegations of patent experts."
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