A study commissioned by the German Ministry of Economics and
Technology has recommended that software patents, which are legal
in the US, should not be allowed in Europe.
The experts warned that a high rate of innovation and
interoperability; and the continued development of the open-source
model would be jeopardised if Europe adopts a rule allowing the
widespread patenting of computer programs.
European Commission officials are expected to unveil a draft law
harmonising software patent regulations within the European Union,
which remain a patchwork of different rules among the 15 member
states. Current regulations forbid the patenting of software on a
European level - a position fiercely defended by activists on the
continent.
The German experts - from the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for
Systems and Innovation Research, and the Max Planck Institute for
Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law -
surveyed 263 German companies and individual developers in the
software area, and compared patent laws in Europe, the US and
Japan.
Even under the more restrictive European patent practice, the
study's authors called for reforms that increase the efficiency of
the patent process and lower costs for small and medium-sized
enterprises. Many of these companies have complained that the cost
of registering patents gives large corporations an unfair
advantage.
However, the researchers called for the rapid harmonisation of
patent law on the European Union level, "even, if possible, at the
level of the World Trade Organisation".