Among the plans are measures to reduce patenting costs, plans to
set up a European court system and, at EU member state level,
establishing a new Community patent system. However, the most
controversial of the EPO's proposed revisions concerns the
patentability of software. Software is officially excluded from the
scope of patentable inventions in Europe, unless it has a technical
effect. Software patents are also the subject of current
consultations by the European Commission and the UK’s Department of
Trade and Industry.
The EPO is in favour of extending the current patent system’s
coverage to software, as is possible in the US, although the draft
revised Convention continues to exclude business methods from
patent protection.
A group called the Association for the Promotion of a Free
Informational Infrastructure (FFII) has published a database
detailing some patents already granted by the EPO for software
meeting the present technical effect requirement. The patents
detailed in the database are accompanied by FFII commentary that
highlights perceived risks in their scope. The group observes that
some of these patents passed by the EPO are not necessarily
enforceable before European courts.
According to the FFII, the EPO’s administrative council has
decided in favour of software patents and the EPO proposes to
confer special legislative rights on its administrative council.
FFII says that the rules of procedure have been determined by the
EPO in such a way that national patent delegations can overrule
individual items only by a two-thirds majority. Otherwise the will
of the EPO will become legally binding in all European countries
whose parliaments do not opt out of the European Patent Convention.
The FFII reports that the German Ministry of Justice has already
threatened to refuse to ratify the new Convention.
