
Logic Patents > Reviews > EuroParl 03-09-24 > Amendments > JURI > Publish > Sample Text
Publish	Sample Text	Disclosure	Various Limits

Disclosure of a sample program

A program is a process description in a formal language. Writing a working program means describing a process in a coherent and fully verified way. It does not mean implementing the process. The subission of a working implementation of a patentable process can not be demanded from a patentee. But a fully verified description can be demanded as part of his disclosure duty, and practise has shown that it would be helpful. Amendments which avoid the term "reference implementation" are therefore to be preferred, altough it is OK to demand the program, which is after all not the invention, to be "implemented" in the sense of "worked out and verified".

Amendment 124

submitted by:: Barbara Kudrycka, Tadeusz Zwiefka
provision:: art 5 par 1 b nov
language:: English
topic:: Sample Text

amendment
	Member States shall ensure that whenever a patent claim names features that imply the use of a computer program, an well-functioning and well-documented program text shall be published as part of the patent description without any restricting licensing terms.
justification
A program listing is an excellent means of describing to a skilled person what a computer-aided process does. This amendment ensures that the obligation of disclosure is taken seriously, and that software is treated as a means of describing the invention, rather than as an invention in itself. The Commission's objection that patent law does not normally require the disclosure of a full reference implementation does not apply, because this amendment does not ask for a reference implementation but only for an accurate description. This requirement makes it a little more difficult to block people from doing things you even haven't done yourself, but which are obviously possible since the computing model is perfectly defined and you always know in advance what is theoretically possible with a computer. When you publish working source code you at least offer some real knowledge on how to solve the problem, unlike when you say in the claims language that a Note that this amendment does not require that the source code for all programs of the patent owner which use these features be disclosed. He only has to provide a single, simple text which describes the monopolised functionality in a programming language. This amendment roughly corresponds to article 7 paragraph 5 in the consolidated text of the EP’s first reading (it’s been made more clear that only an example must be provided).

Amendment 125

submitted by:: Fausto Bertinotti
provision:: art 5 par 1 b nov
language:: English
topic:: Sample Text

amendment
	Member States shall ensure that whenever a patent claim names features that imply the use of a computer program, an well-functioning and well-documented program text shall be published as part of the patent description without any restricting licensing terms.
justification
A program listing is an excellent means of describing to a skilled person what a computer-aided process does. This amendment ensures that the obligation of disclosure is taken seriously, and that software is treated as a means of describing the invention, rather than as an invention in itself. The Commission's objection that patent law does not normally require the disclosure of a full reference implementation does not apply, because this amendment does not ask for a reference implementation but only for an accurate description. This requirement makes it a little more difficult to block people from doing things you even haven't done yourself, but which are obviously possible since the computing model is perfectly defined and you always know in advance what is theoretically possible with a computer. When you publish working source code you at least offer some real knowledge on how to solve the problem, unlike when you say in the claims language that a "processor means coupled to input output means so that they compute a function such that the result of said function when output through said output means solves the problem the user wanted to solve". Note that this amendment does not require that the source code for all programs of the patent owner which use these features be disclosed. He only has to provide a single, simple text which describes the monopolised functionality in a programming language. This amendment roughly corresponds to article 7 paragraph 5 in the consolidated text of the EP’s first reading (it’s been made more clear that only an example must be provided).

Amendment 144

submitted by:: Manuel Medina Ortega
provision:: art 5 ter nov
topic:: Sample Text

amendment
	Los Estados miembros garantizarán que siempre que una reclamación de patentes indique características que impliquen el uso de un programa de ordenador, un buen funcionamiento y bien documentada referencia de aplicación de tal programa se publicará como parte de la descripción sin ninguna restricción a sus condiciones de licencia.
justification
Estas enmiendas, a pesar de lo que se pueda pensar, no sirven para promover los programas de red abierta sino para asegurar que la obligación de publicidad, que es inherente al sistema de patentes, se tome en serio y para que un programa informático esté, como cualquier otro objeto de información, en el lado revelado de la patente en vez de en su lado de exclusión /monopolio. Esto hace un poco más difícil impedir que alguien haga cosas que ni siquiera ha hecho él mismo, pero que son obviamente posibles desde que el modelo de computación se definió perfectamente y se sabe siempre lo que se puede hacer con un ordenador. Obsérvese que esta enmienda no requiere que el código de fuentes para todos los programas del titular de la que usa estas características se revelen. Solamente tiene que proporcionar una única y simple aplicación de la funcionalidad que está monopolizando. Esta enmienda corresponde al artículo 7 párrafo 5 del texto consolidado de la primera lectura del PE.

Amendment 241

submitted by:: Piia-Noora Kauppi
provision:: rec 17 b nov
language:: English
topic:: Sample Text

amendment
	It would aid in the diffusion of information and the establishment of a comprehensive database of prior art, if patent applicants could, where feasible, but independently of the need for the purposes of sufficiency of disclosure to do so, file with each patent application relating to a computer-implemented invention a well-functioning and well documented reference implementation of a program suitable for use in implementing the invention, which can be made available to the public at the same time as the publication of the description.
justification
Transparent reference implementation, where feasible, helps the information diffusion.

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© 2005-06-12 Hartmut PILCH
english version 2005-03-20 by Hartmut PILCH