Looking Back at the CII Directive
The defeat of the Computer-Implemented Inventions directive — the so-called “software patent” directive — by the European Parliament seems positive. But it doesn’t address the larger issues — and that could yet spell trouble for software makers.
Thursday, September 15th, 2005
As this issue of Linux Magazine goes to press, it’s been only a few days since the defeat of the Computer-Implemented Inventions directive — the so-called “software patent” directive — by the European Parliament. But it’s not too soon to reflect both on what happened and what still lies in store for software developers in the future.
First, a little history on software patents in Europe.
The European Patent Office (EPO) does not operate under the auspices of the European Union (EU). Instead, it’s an organization formed by convention (the European Patent Convention) by a number of European countries with the intent to bring uniformity to patent practices among the patent offices of the signatory countries.
Article 52 of the European Patent Convention states that programs for computers are not patentable as such. While interpreted by many to mean that software isn’t patentable, both the EPO and a number of its member country patent offices have been issuing so-called software patents for a considerable period of time. However, there’s been no consistent practice among all EPO member countries, and there’s been a good deal of uncertainty whether software patents are even enforceable. So, the European Commission stepped into the picture to propose legislation intended to bring harmony among EU countries on the subject.
