Slashdot Mirror
EU Patent Examiners Warn Parliament Will Have "No Power"
zoobab writes "The Staff Union of the European Patent Organisation sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, warning that after the EU accedes to the European Patent Convention, there is a risk that the European Parliament would be 'circumvented' as a legislator. The European Patent Organisation is in no way a model of democracy: national patent offices are in power, there is no parliament involved in the decision-making process, and diplomatic conferences are held behind closed doors. There are plans to create a central patent court in Europe, which would operate in a democratic vacuum, not counterbalanced by any legislative assembly, in particular not the European Parliament. Such a central patent court could also validate software patents via caselaw (as the German Supreme Court recently did with the Microsoft FAT patent). And Microsoft, IBM, and SAP are lobbying in Brussels not to reopen consideration of the software patent directive."
And this is not only difficult, but also expensive and an entry barrier for new technology movers and inventors.
While that is true, please consider the following scenario:
1. Create office with power, without responsibility, and without anyone in the bureaucratic machine who can question their decisions
2. Install own people (did I mention it's not an elected body?)
3. WELCOME BACK SOFTWARE PATENTS
At least the national patent offices have clearly defined authorities they report to. Do we really need more red tape to sync databases?