Software Patents – Boon or Bane for Europe?
Abstract
Software patents have been making the headlines recently. In the EU, after the European Parliament has rejected a controversial proposed ‘Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions’ in July 2005, the debate is far from over: The Commission continues to pursue policies expanding the reach of intellectual property rights, while the controversies have exposed issues that call for a more cautious approach, demanding justification for further extension of IP – difficult to provide in general, and probably impossible with respect to computer software, as the evolution of information technology reveals fundamental incompatibilities with the patent system: Thorough analysis of the historical development of IP as well as that of computers and their programs, both as a science and with its economic implications as an industry, combined with the international comparison of experiences with (and alternatives to) patents covering software, provide convincing reasons to keep patent law within its established confines supported by the European Patent Convention, separating patentable subject matter from unpatentable mental acts, business methods and mathematics.