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Report on Software Patents

Posted by michael on from the registered-and-bonded dept.

sien writes: "The Fraunhofer Institute, holder of the patent on the MP3 codec, has published a report (PDF, German) recommending that patents on software not be added in the EU. There is a ZDNet story, and also here which is a German site for protecting innovation from misuse of patents. The report is important because it will be considered in the EU wide decision on software patents."

1 of 10 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What is a "technical effect"? by dlek · · Score: 5, Informative

    From a FAQ at the UK Patent Office:

    9. People are talking about "technical effect". What is this?

    Patents in the UK and Europe are granted for technical inventions (eg: medicines, engines, circuit boards etc.). Innovations which are to be patentable must not only be novel and inventive, but are expected to have a "technical effect". Recent changes in the US mean that over there inventions, apart from being novel and not obvious, need only be "useful", but not technical. Consequently methods for teaching music or methods for undercutting a competitor's price, for example, are now patentable in the US, even though they would not be here because a novel teaching method or pricing strategy have no "technical" character even though they are useful.

    Hope that helps. Every definition I found is similarly murky, but I think the meaning comes through.

    -dlek