Nouvelles sur les Brevets Logiciels en 2005

Le rapporteur du Parlement Européen, Michel Rocard, a publié son avis sur la directive du brevet logiciel et expliqué les principes que ses amendments vont suivre. L'aproche de Rocard semble contenir tous les ingrédients pour une directive qui fourni les clarifications nécéssaires et qui fait ce que le conséil dit qu'il doit faire: exclure les programmes d'ordinateur de la brevetabilité tout en permettant le brevetage des inventions techniques (solutions impliquant les forces de la nature), indépendemment de la question s'ils sont contrôlés par logiciel ou non. Rocard propose de remplacer le terme contradictoire "invention mise en oevre par ordinateur" par "invention contrôlée par ordinateur" our "invention assistée par ordinateur". Le rapport plein avec les amendments va être publié directement après le débat du 21 Avril. Les MPEs peuvent déposes autres amendments avant le 6 Mai. La commission votera le 20 Juin, le plénière le 6 Juillet.

Today the Spanish Senate has unanimously approved a motion which was initiated by Jordi Guillot, senator and president of the Commission of the Society of the Information and Conocimiento of the Senate, which asks the Government to remain firm in his refusal to the patents of software and it should work with other member states to obtain an majority against the 18 May text.

/Brussels, 2 February 2005/ - The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI) has decided with a large majority to ask the Commission for a renewed referral of the software patents directive.

IBM has officially released 500 patents for use in free/opensource software and encourages other companies to follow suit, saying that "this is just a first step". Preliminary research by FFII shows that these 500 patents have at least 100 counterparts at the EPO which are also covered by IBM's license.

A motion for a resolution, signed by 61 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from 13 countries, calls for a new first reading of the software patent directive. The motion has received particularly warm support from MEPs from Poland and other new member states. However, many veteran MEPs also welcome the initiative as a way out of a crisis, into which the Council has plunged the directive project by failing to conduct a proper first reading.