Feb 18
This is great news. I was really concerned that the lobbyists were going to push through their agenda, and then all hell would break loose.
This doesn’t meant that the book is closed of course. The fight will continue. However, congrats to everyone involved in winning the battle.
February 18th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
The whole debate got totally confused. The fact is that software is not patentable in Europe and nobody was ever suggesting it should be. But, inventions which are implemented using computers can be patented, provided that the invention satisfies all the usual criteria for patentability, i.e., they must be novel and inventive. But the MPs pushing it forward were just totally confused, and the draft just ended up looking rubbish.
The problem is that (i) Europe doesn’t want to go the way of the US where business methods are patented and (ii) some groups have either got the wrong end of the stick or are just totally against patents full-stop!