(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
We know that for over two decades, the global patent industry has been trying - discretely, and sometimes less discretely - to get software patents legalised. When Brian Kahin wrote about the US software patent issue in 1990, the US had already allowed software patents for almost a decade.
Today, in Europe, we still have the uncertain status where the EPO grants software patents and national high courts mostly reject them. The Commission has been promoting a new scheme, called EPLA, which is driven by the hunger of the global patent industry and its frustration with Europe's failure to follow the American lead.
A key to understanding EPLA is to see that the global patent industry
is a lucrative set of businesses that makes money from researching,
writing, granting, licensing, and litigating patents. The patent
industry in Europe consists of:
- The national patent offices.
- The European Patent Office. (EPO)
- Independent patent experts and attorneys.
- Patent lawyers who manage intellectual property issues for major corporations.
- Patent-holding specialist firms (also called 'patent trolls').
It's a global industry because most of the investment in purchasing and litigating patents is from overseas. EPO patents are not rewarding European investors as much as they are giving foreign interests control over European industries.
The patent industry already has a near-monopoly over the patent system. The same people govern the EPO, help define the EU Council's and Commission's patent policies, work as experts in business and private practice, sit as MEPs, and lobby for laws that favour the patent industry.
The only real regulation on the patent industry today is the system of national high courts that strike down EPO patents when they are considered invalid. EPLA proposes to remove that layer of regulation and create a self-regulating monopoly. The justification for EPLA is that a single court is cheaper and more predictable than the current diversity of national courts. (This justification is false - the EPO has itself said EPLA would be more costly for most SMEs.)
In my blog entry "The EPLA Shuffle", I describe the way the Commission has acted as the mouthpiece and patron of the patent industry. I describe the pro-EPLA propaganda, so you can recognise and counter it when you see it. I explain how the Commission is conducting a huge astroturf campaign to push for EPLA. And I say that the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is taking steps on designing a new patent system.
Let me describe the FFII vision. We believe that change in the patent system is needed. The patent industry is already a dangerous monopoly, and it cannot remain loosely regulated. We want to see a proper EU patent system that sits under our courts and is governed by our European Parliament.
The initiative is called the "European Patent Conference". We are launching it with two conferences. One will be on 25 November, in Munich. The second will be in mid-January in Brussels. We plan to include not just the software industry but telecoms, pharma, and other sectors. During 2007 we'll continue to organise events, build up a base of ideas and papers, and aim to bring a solid proposal to the table.
The European Patent Conference is not just an event, it's a work in progress that will, if we succeed, turn the software patent debate on its head. The core question is not whether software should be patentable. As Kahin said: "never before has an industry in which copyright was widely established suddenly been subjected to patenting". The core question is whether an unregulated global patent industry can be allowed to take over the European patent system.
Do we control our future patent system, or does it control us? That's the question, and we - you and me - are the answer. If you want to help, you can become a member of the FFII, you can donate, or you can work with us on the European Patent Conference.
Brian Kahin - The Software Patent Crisis (1990)
http://deoxy.org/swpc.htm
The EPLA Shuffle (22.10.2006)
http://heironymouscoward.blogspot.com/2006/10/epla-shuffle.html
EDRI-gram: The European Parliament ready to vote on EPLA (11.10.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.19/epla
(Contribution by Pieter Hintjens - President FFII e.V.)