[Random-bits] Michelle Delio on EPO debate on software patents

[James Love]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40299,00.html

Europe Starts Debate on Patents 
          by Michelle Delio 

 2:00 a.m. Nov. 21, 2000 PST 

A new battle between European open-source advocates and the European
Patent Office is being waged at the Diplomatic Conference to Revise the
European Patent Convention in Munich, Germany. 

          A key issue at the conference, which opened Monday, will be
whether software developers should be allowed to patent their
applications. Current European law does not allow software to be
patented, but the European Patent Office (EPO) is heavily in favor of an
extension of the patent system that would extend its coverage to
software. 

   [snip]

-- 
James Love  mailto:love@cptech.org http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
voice 1.202.387.8030  fax  1.202.234.5176