[Ecommerce] CCIA Warns Against Handing Innovation Policy to Patent Institutions

[Manon Ress]

Subject: CCIA Warns Against Handing Innovation Policy to Patent
Institutions
To: "Press Contacts: Technology" <"Press_Contacts:_Technology%
CCIANET"@ccianet.org>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 11:15:09 -0400

*** MEDIA ADVISORY***


Media Contact:
Hunter McIntosh +1 202 783 0070 x-113
Ed Black +1 202 783 0070

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2006

     CCIA Warns Against Handing Innovation Policy to Patent Institutions

Washington, DC - In a letter addressed to Members of the European
Parliament, the Computer & Communications Industry Association bluntly
warned against the creation of a system of patent courts under the
auspices
of the European Patent Organization and national patent agencies.
=89=A5=FEEuropean policymakers are being asked to follow the U.S. model =D0=
 a
specialized patent appeals court =D0 un unadvised of the problems the
U.S. model
has created, especially for producers of software and information
technology,=89=A5=FF warned Ed Black, President and CEO of CCIA.

Ironically, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McGreevy has
endorsed the
proposed European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA), even though the
patent courts would be independent of the European Union and create
precedent for more independent institutions. In the United States,
decisions of the specialized Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
can
be directly appealed to the Supreme Court or to Congress.  However,
there
would be no judicial review or democratic review of the European Patent
Court decisions.  Said Black: =89=A5=FEAstoundingly, the Commissioner is
arguing
for his irrelevance =D0 or rather the irrelevaance of his successors.=89=A5=
=FF

  =89=A5=FEEPLA=89=A5=FAs supporters are experts in obtaining patents, not
innovation,=89=A5=FF
observed Mark Webbink, Deputy General Counsel for Red Hat, a CCIA
member.
=89=A5=FEPatent systems do not monitor economic results =D0 how patents aff=
ect
competition and innovation inn the real world.  Without this
accountability,
an insulated patent system is bound to serve its own professional and
institutional interests, and the proposed European system would be
far more
autonomous and insular than U.S. system.=89=A5=FF

=89=A5=FEA specialized patent court makes its mark on the world by
championing its
speciality,=89=A5=FF added Black.  CCIA has been critical of the Federal
Circuit
for making patents easy to get, easy to assert, more potent, and
available
for any subject matter.  It has become virtually impossible for
innovators
in information technology to avoid inadvertent infringement, while
patent
litigation has grown astronomically expensive.

While litigation in Europe is generally not as costly as the United
States,
EPO figures show that cost would likely grow under EPLA.  And these
figures
do not even reflect the fact the new freestanding European Patent Courts
would have to be fully funded by its own fees to survive.  Webbink
warned:
=89=A5=FEAll this is bad news for small firms who already lack the
resources to
avoid infringement or defend themselves against the rising tide of
patent
trolls.=89=A5=FF


(Se
                                    # # #
About CCIA
CCIA is an international, nonprofit association of computer and
communications industry firms, representing a broad cross section of the
industry. CCIA is dedicated to preserving full, fair and open
competition
throughout our industry. Our members employ more than 600,000 workers
and

************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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