I think it's worth expanding on: > * "Maintain policy of not extending patent rights beyond their > present limits within the areas of software, business methods > and genes." - this is an important principle!!
The report says this, in detail: 4.114 There have been calls in the UK to introduce pure computer software patents to ensure that innovation is properly protected and encouraged. In Europe, patents are not granted for computer programs as such, but patents have been granted to computer-based innovations provided they have a technical effect. In the USA, pure computer software patents can be granted. The evidence on the success of pure computer software patents is mixed. The software industry in the USA grew exponentially without pure software patents, suggesting they are not necessary to promote innovation. The evidence suggests software patents are used strategically; that is, to prevent competitors from developing in a similar field, rather than to incentivise innovation. 4.115 In addition to the concerns that increased protection does not increase incentives, some have commented that pure software patents do not meet the criteria for patentability. The most profound problem with using patent law to protect software is that innovation in the field is usually accomplished in increments too small to be viewed as inventive steps. Several submissions to the Call for Evidence, for example the Professional Contractors Group’s submission, argued that software should not be patentable in principle. Where freelance businesses develop software, they rely on copyright to protect it. This protection is free and automatic. The copying of as little as 1.7 per cent of a program’s code has in the past been found to be infringement of copyright. 4.116 Introducing pure software patents could raise the costs for small software developers to mitigate against risks surrounding R&D, thereby inflating the capital needs of software development. Sun Microsystems argued that without exceptions that allowed for reverse engineering for interoperability, pure software patents could stifle competition. 4.117 Last year, the European Parliament rejected the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive, but this issue has been raised again. The economic evidence suggests that such patents have done little to raise incentives to innovate, and other evidence suggests that the introduction of such patents will have a chilling effect on innovation. In the absence of such evidence, a new right for pure software patents should not be introduced, and so the scope of patentability should not be extended to cover computer programs as such. Cheers, Alex. _______________________________________________ Fsfe-uk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-uk
