Download Martes 04 de enero de 2005 Fuente: Financial Times New EU

Martes 04 de enero de 2005
Fuente: Financial Times
New EU patents rules divide software industry
European Union governments and lawmakers expect a fierce battle this year over new rules on
patents for software-related inventions that have divided the software industry and sparked
recriminations. Both national governments and the European parliament have yet to agree on
proposals by the European Commission, which Brussels claims do little more than codify the rules
already in place in many EU member states. But the law's opponents - including many small
software companies as well as individual developers - say it will allow big corporations such as
Microsoft and Nokia to win patent protection for "pure" software and hurt innovation and growth.
In its present form, the law - often described as the software patent directive - would allow
companies to register patents for software that make a "technical contribution", for example helping
a mobile phone save battery power or improving the picture on a television screen. There is,
however, a fierce debate over whether the text may also allow companies to win patent protection
for "pure" software such as Microsoft's Windows operating system or even simple business
methods such as Apple's on-screen waste basket. This, opponents say, would be a disaster
because smaller companies would be unable to build on widely used lines of software code to come
up with new and innovative products.
Owing to this controversy, the legislation has yet to be signed off by the EU member states even though they informally backed a compromise version last summer. Ministers had been
expected formally to endorse that version last month, but Poland asked for the vote to be
postponed. The stalemate has been condemned by EICTA, an association of large high-tech
companies such as Microsoft, Nokia, Siemens, SAP, Sony and Intel. Mark MacGann, EICTA's
director general, said: "We are dealing with legislation that was tabled by the Commission 30
months ago - how long do governments need in order to create a stable and harmonised legal
environment that supports innovation in the EU?"
Yet to the law's opponents, the failure to back the proposals came as a boost. "Now Europe has
the chance to properly discuss the severe shortcomings of the present proposals," said Florian
Müller of the campaign group NoSoftwarePatents.com. Officials still expect the draft law to be
waved through by the member states later this year. However, that will mean that the text is passed
on to the European parliament for its approval - which is widely expected to put up even tougher
resistance to the idea of patents in the software industry.
Many fear that, after an already tortuous process, the fight could drag on into 2006.