nettime maillist on Wed, 23 Jun 1999 19:38:36 +0200 (CEST) |
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love@cptech.org: EU sign-on effort on software patents |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <nettime-l-temp@material.net> is the temporary home of the nettime-l list while desk.nl rebuilds its list-serving machine. please continue to send messages to <nettime-l@desk.nl> and your commands to <majordomo@desk.nl>. nettime-l-temp should be active for approximately 2 weeks (11-28 Jun 99). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 09:04:56 -0400 From: t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com> To: nettime@desk.nl Subject: [love@cptech.org: EU sign-on effort on software patents] ----- Forwarded Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 03:15:23 -0400 From: James Love <love@cptech.org> To: Multiple recipients of list RANDOM-BITS <random-bits@essential.org> Subject: EU sign-on effort on software patents This is a URL for a sign-on letter to the European Commission in opposition to US style software patents in Europe. http://swpat.ffii.org/miert/indexen.html See also the discussion on slashdot.org here: http://slashdot.org/articles/99/06/20/1310243.shtml This is also a trade issue, since Article 27 of the WTO's TRIPS agreement (on intellectual property) requires members of the WTO to provide patents to "all fields of technology," with only a few exceptions, and some US officials want to push for greater international acceptance of software and business practices patents. Also, the working group on electronic commerce of the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (http://www.tacd.org) is currently reviewing this issue in terms of the WTO work program on electronic commerce. Jamie Love <love@cptech.org> Here is Article 27 of the TRIPS Article 27 Patentable Subject Matter 1. Subject to the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3, patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application.See footnote 5 Subject to paragraph 4 of Article 65, paragraph 8 of Article 70 and paragraph 3 of this Article, patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention, the field of technology and whether products are imported or locally produced. 2. Members may exclude from patentability inventions, the prevention within their territory of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect ordre public or morality, including to protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment, provided that such exclusion is not made merely because the exploitation is prohibited by their law. 3. Members may also exclude from patentability: (a) diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals; (b) plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. However, Members shall provide for the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generis system or by any combination thereof. The provisions of this subparagraph shall be reviewed four years after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement. Footnote: 5For the purposes of this Article, the terms "inventive step" and "capable of industrial application" may be deemed by a Member to be synonymous with the terms "non-obvious" and "useful" respectively. -- James Love Consumer Project on Technology http://www.cptech.org love@cptech.org 202.387.8030; fax 202.234.5176 ----- Backwarded