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Thursday, May 13, 2004

U-Turn in the German Position on Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions?

There is a

report [in German, sorry] saying that yesterday Mr. Hucko, a senior Official in the German Federal Ministry of Justice, has publicly indicated a U-turn of the policy of the German Government with regard to the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. According to this report, Germany would, contrary to the COREPER agreement, vote in the next session of the Competitiveness Council to be held on coming Monday May 17, 2004 against the pending proposal of the Irish EU Presidency. I currently do not have any confirmation of the report.

[Update:]

FFII e.V. provide a

comment as follows -

"Warning: what the German justice ministry promised and what not

Hucko did say that Germany would oppose the Council's rush for an undiscussed decision. This is good news, given that German opposition seemed to have been withdrawn before. However it does not mean that the German government is against program claims or against any other of the scandalous provisions of the Council document. Nor does it mean that the German government will spend great efforts to pull other governments on its side. It means only that there are now more chances to have the Council decision postponed, not more and not less."

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