The French Governement has written to the European Commission
complaining about its proposed Directive on so-called "computer
implemented inventions". According to the French Governement, the
lack of clear limitations in the proposal "would open the realm of
patentability to all software and eventually business methods"
because the "Directive claims in the explanatory memorandum that
all programs when run in a computer are by definition
technical."
Also, "the French Government considers that the proposed Directive does not provide adequate answers on the economic, scientific and cultural impact of the software economy as well on the requirement of promoting innovation which was defined as a priority in the e-Europe action plan."
The letter concludes that the French Government intends to block any proposal which it considers would have negative consequences in Europe in the field of innovation, interoperability and open source / free software, as well as on developers and users and in particular on SMEs.
EuroLinux, an open standards coalition, has voiced its support for the French Government’s position and called for other European governments to take a similar stance.
The French Government’s press release can be downloaded as a one page PDF (in French) from www.telecom.gouv.fr/dp/brevetlogiciel.pdf.
