"[...]The European Parliament has taken the initiative in the stalled debate on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions ('software patents'). Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs unanimously voted yesterday for a renewed first reading of the proposal. 'Commissioner McCreevy has to withdraw the proposal,' the EPP-ED Group's spokesman on Legal Affairs, Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP (CDU) said. 'This would be the best solution to solve the current blockade', he added. [...]
The procedure to date has shown that the Commission's proposal was 'unsuitable', Lehne continued. Because of the increasingly emotional discussion a factual decision is getting more and more difficult. Lehne warned: 'We are in danger of reaching a stage that would radically limit the patentability of inventions.'
A restrictive patentability would harm innovative industries especially in the areas of medicine, automotive production, technical components and household goods, the Member of European Parliament warned. 'This is about the innovative capacity of Europe's industry', he said. The Commission must not continue its policy 'with its eyes shut.' 'We need time to reflect,' Lehne said. The decision by the Committee on Legal Affairs puts pressure on the Commission. According to article 55 of its statute, the European Parliament can demand a renewed procedure. [...]"
Mr. Lehne is right with his proposal to cancel the entire project on the Commission's side. After a moratorium of some couple of years, perhaps another attempt could be launched to deal with that matter. It is good to hear that Mr. Lehne is not buying the propaganda of the anti-patent campaigners but insists that a restrictive patentability would harm innovative industries especially in the areas of medicine, automotive production, technical components and household goods. I am delighted.
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Dipl.-Phys. Axel H Horns is Patentanwalt (German Patent Attorney),
European Patent Attorney as well as European Trade Mark Attorney. In particular, he is Member of:
Mr. Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP (CDU EVP) has recently 
