EU Patent Politics from Yesterday to the Early Days

The astonishing career of the patent system from Europe-wide judicial bans on specific methods of organisation and calculation back to the royal tax monopolies.

To get an overview of the history of European patent politics and specifically the struggle about software patents, check out the following links

Since the end of the Software Patent Directive
- 2007
- 2006
Before the end of the Software Patent Directive
- Software Patents: an Introduction – tells the story of the failed attempts to change the EPC and to legalise software patents by means of a directive
- History of Patentability – a rough sketch of developments since the early days of the patent system
- 2005
- 2004
- 2003
- 2002
- 2001
- 2000
- 1999
History of the Patent System

Software Patents in Europe: A Short Overview:: In 20 minutes you can learn what is going on in the fight about software patents in Brussels. Most of the complexities of the debate arise from a few simple parameters. When you have learnt these, you can hopefully feel confident to write well-informed articles about a fascinating political drama with far-reaching implications.
Future Developments concerning Software Patents:: What will happen next in with Regard to Software Patents, in particular the EU directive project? What is up in India, Australia? at WIPO, WSIS? FFII & friends try to keep this page up to date.
Software Patent News:: Latest developments related to the struggle about software patents in Europe and surrounding subjects, linked to dossiers and tutorials provided by FFII and a community of wiki editors.
Software Patents: News Sources and Discussion Rounds:
:: How the patent system evolved, expanded and how theories of its limits evolved and were codified.

EU Patent Politics from Yesterday to the Early Days

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