Information Patents in the US and Europe

Over_and_Done writes "First Monday has an article up discussing the differences in information process patents between the US and Europe. The author mentions that the United States reform is too focused on process reform, arguing that they should be instead focusing on what is and is not patentable (i.e. Business Method patents). He also states that Europe is choosing to instead follow a different track, and make the process a little more restrictive, resulting in a rift between the US and Europe. The article raises a lot of interesting facts that I was not aware of, including the incident where the US threatened to walk out of the WIPO meeting because the proposed treaty did not 'mandate patents for all fields of activity.' The author, although critical of the policies on both sides of the pond states that the rift is in some ways healthy, as it encourages an open debate and requires people to look at the patent issue from many different angles."

Comments

Get it right

[darco]

The US did not pull out of the Kyoto Treaty because it would hurt out economy. The US pulled out of the Kyoto Treaty because it was so lax on "developing nations", including China. Why should the US have to adhere to such a Treaty when the world's largest polluter doesn't?

It wasn't a fair Treaty, and it was wise to get out of it.

USian intl arrogance could work _for_ us here...

[pedro]

Now that Bush and his henchmen have essentially told the rest of the world to f*ck off with regard to military and diplomatice endeavors, and chosen to invade Iraq unilaterally, perhaps the larger planetary community can return the favor in a manner that will make their displeasure truly felt?
IE: by telling US big bidness and the USPTO to go bite the big one!