[Ecommerce] Tech firms want EU patent software law pulled

[Manon Ress]

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Tech firms want Europe patent software law pulled
By Lucas van Grinsven, European Technology Correspondent
Mon Jul 4,11:44 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - European high-tech leaders said on Monday they
would prefer the European Parliament to scrap a controversial
software patent law rather than confuse it with dozens of amendments
when it votes later this week.


Big technology firms said most, if not all, amendments to the
original proposal, or Common Position, should be taken off the table.
Consumer interest groups, which have added dozens more amendments in
recent weeks, urged European Members of Parliament to vote in favor
of key amendments. "Any departure from the Common Position would put
at risk our future prosperity and significant numbers of jobs across
Europe," Serge Tchuruk, the Chief Executive of French telecoms
equipment maker Alcatel, said in a statement.

The European Parliament is set to vote on the law on Wednesday, but
Netherlands-based electronics conglomerate Philips said it was best
withdrawn before it was cluttered with amendments.

"It will become legally confusing," a spokeswoman said.

The CEOs of



Nokia, Siemens and Ericsson also voiced their concerns.

The new law was designed to harmonize European patenting laws and
guarantee that high-tech companies can register computer-implemented
innovations.

Consumer interest bodies have proposed dozens of amendments because
they are concerned about "excessive patenting that has become all too
apparent" in Europe, an alliance of open source and consumer groups
said in a joint statement.

They urged members of parliament to vote for the so-called Rocard-
Buzek amendments which "eliminate circular reasoning ... and actually
place limits on patentability -- something to which the Council paper
only pays lip service.

"At the same time, they preserve the ability of the electro-technical
sectors to patent inventions that incorporate software," they added.

LONG DEBATE

The debate has heated up over the last two weeks, since the European
Parliament's legal affairs committee voted in favor of the proposed
law, while accepting some amendments.

Dozens of new amendments have been added since, including three that
propose to pull the law.

"We should either have a good bill, or no bill," said the spokeswoman
for Philips, adding that without a new bill, tech firms could
continue to use the laws of individual European countries to protect
their intellectual property.

Two-thirds of all European patents are technology-related, and many
innovations are at least partly software-based.

Some telecommunications companies invest over 90 percent of their
research money in innovations that can be rated as computer-
implemented findings, German telecom and new media industry
association BITKOM has said.

Opposing the big tech firms are open source software supporters,
including many smaller firms. Smaller firms also point out that only
multinationals can afford to defend patents in court, and say patents
lock up markets.

The text of the bill has gone back and forth between European
Parliament and the Commission. Lawmakers demanded in February that
the EU executive withdraw and revise the bill to favor small firms
and the open source community of independent software developers.