#thh: A patent attorney trying to mobilise his profession for backlash in the Council. #Wca: Patent attorney Horns says that EP decision is %(q:rubbish), based on FFII %(q:misinformation campaign), will be %(q:thrown into the dustbin) by European Commission or Council and, if not, attacked on the basis of TRIPs by friends from US. #sey: Brussels correspondant Mathew Newman confuses patent lawyer interests with industry interests, attributes limiting amendments to %(q:environmentalists and socialists), extensively quotes EICTA statements. #Wbi: Patentanwälte von großen Informations- und Kommunikationstechnischen Unternehmen, die im Namen einer Europäischen Industrie-Vereinigung sprechen, sind sehr unglücklich über das Ergebnis der Abstimmung im Europäischen Parlament #foh: An informative account of what happened. #cWi: UK patent lawyer and former EPO examiner Alex Batteson denies competence of the parliament in matters of patent legislation, predicts that European Commission and Council will withdraw directive and entrust %(q:patent experts) from national governments with legislation via the European Patent Organisation. #vPi: Christian Engström, swedish software developper, refutes statements by UK patent lawyer Alex Batteson who asked that the European Parliament should be stripped of its right to legislate on patent matters, as by voting against software patents it had shown its incompetence. #rsw: Part II of Engström's refutal of Batteson and assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of parliamentary democracy, as shown in the software patent vote. #tpe: Dr. Lenz, professor of german and european law in Tokyo, is worried about the attempts of Horns and other patent lawyers to declare themselves %(q:experts) in this matter and deny the competence of the European Parliament, points out that this runs counter to recent principle decisions of the German Constitutional Court. Moreover Lenz confesses himself guilty of what Horns calls a %(q:misinformation campaign) about the exclusion of software from patentability by the European Patent Convention and expresses doubt about the correctness of Horns's assertions. #rme: Antwort von Hartmut Pilch an Axel Horns in einer Mailinglisten-Diskussion zum Broersma Artikel #lvt: Der Brüsseler Korrespondent Paul Meller berichtet, daß nun die Rollen der Unterstützer und der Gegner der Direktive getauscht wurden. Er zitiert Hartmut Pilch und Laura Creighton. #uoe: Antwort von Hartmut Pilch an PA Axel Horns #ins: Horns bezichtigt das Europaparlament, dem FFII auf einen dilettantischen und abenteuerlichen Kurs gefolgt zu sein, dem nun die Patentprofis um Bolkestein, im Rat und in der US-Regierung ein Ende bereiten werden, indem sie die Richtlinie abschießen. Pilch widerlegt die Argumente. #Bolkestein030923T: Bolkensteins Drohung #Bolkestein030923D: One day before the vote Bolkestein told the MEPs: %(bc|Now I am aware that the large number of amendments to the McCarthy report have been tabled. Many of those try to re-introduce ideas and themes which were already considered and rejected by the committee during the preparation of the report. There are some interesting points, but in the main, I am afraid that the majority of those amendments will be unacceptable to the Commission. And I must confess, to being very concerned about this situation. Many of these amendments are fundamental, and there is the very real possibility of the failure of the proposal if the parliament chooses to accept them. If that were to happen, there would I fear be two consequences, neither of which I suspect has been forseen by some mebers of parliament, and neither of which I can only assume would advance the objectives which seem to lie behind a number of amendments. Firstly, in the complete absence of harmonisation at the level of the community, the European and various national patent offices would be free to continue their current practice of issuing patents for software-implemented inventions which may blur or even cross the line in undermining the exclusion from patentability of software as such under article 52 of the European Patent Convention. And the result would be not only continuing legal uncertainty and divergence for inventors; but also erode the position which I think almost everyone in this room and above all the Commission itself wants -- namely to maintain the exclusion of pure software from patentability. That we do not want. That the proposal rejects. And secondly, in the absence of harmonisation at Community level, member states would be very likely to pursue harmonisation at the European level instead. And may I explain what I mean by that remark. Unlike many fields, patents are unusual in that as a result of the existence of the European Patent Convention, and the creation of the European Patent Office, there already exists a supranational patent system, which covers the whole of the European Union, and indeed beyond, and which can act independently of the Community's legislative process. Now if we fail in our efforts to achieve a harmonisation of patent law relating to computer-implemented inventions in the European Union, we may well be confronted with a renegotiation of the European Patent Convention. And if I may be blunt, President, the process of renegotiation of the European Patent Convention would not require any contribution from this parliament. So the situation is clear: there is a single objective but a choice of means. Either we proceed using the community method, or we take a back seat and watch while member states go via the route of an intergovernmental treaty. And I think it is clear which route would give European citizens a greater say through this parliament in patent legislation in an area which is so crucial to our economy.) #WWt: Heise 2003-10-23: EU-Parlament erhaelt Unterstuetzung bei Software-Patenten #eWG: Zitiert eine Presseerklärung des DMMV. Dessen Vorstandsmitglied Rudi Gallist sieht im Ansatz des Europäischen Parlamentes einen guten Kompromiss zwischen Erfordernis des Patentschutzes für den klassischen Bereich der Technik und dem Bedürfnis der Softwarebranche, insbesonders der KMU, nach Freiheit von Patentverletzungsrisiken. Ferner kommt Daniel Riek vom Linux-Verband zu Wort, der die Bitkom-Stellungnahme vom Vortag scharf kritisiert. #1rn: Heise 03-10-22: %(q:IT-Verband ruft EU auf den rechten Weg zurück) #tEo: Bericht über Bitkom-PE und Warnung von FFII UK #Wad: CEC 2003-10: Inakzeptable Anträge #ssn: In a first reaction to the European Parliament's amendments, the European Commission's patent experts (i.e. the authors of the amended draft) list the amendments which they say are %(q:inacceptable to the Commission). The list is long. It comprises all amendments that can limit patentability or patent enforcability in any way. The only %(q:acceptable) amendments are the cosmetic ones from JURI. CEC does not give any reasoning as to why it can't accept the others. This CEC statement was published on the Coucil website two weeks after the EP vote, shortly before a first meeting of the Council's %(q:Patent Working Party). #aea: 2002 haben die Patentbeauftragten des Rats auf unbegrenzte Patentierbarkeit gedrängt, obwohl sie laut den Verfahrensregeln des EU-Gesetzgebung gar nicht an der Reihe waren. Genauso wie der Binnenmarkt-Ausschuss der Europäischen Kommission, ist die %(q:Arbeitsgruppe für Patentrecht) des Rates eine Institution auf welche die Patentabteilungen großer IT-Konzerne zählen können. Ihre Mitglieder sind immer dazu bereit, entgegen schriftlicher Anweisungen ihrer eigenen Regierungen zu handeln, falls der Konsens der Patentlobby dies verlangt. # Local Variables: ; # coding: utf-8 ; # srcfile: /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/phm/sys/mlht.el ; # mailto: mlhtimport@ffii.org ; # login: phm ; # passwd: YYYYY ; # feature: swpatdir ; # dok: europarl-reag0309 ; # txtlang: de ; # multlin: t ; # End: ;