BSA Welcomes EU Council's Common Position on the CII Directive and Calls for a Reform Agenda to Enhance SMEs’ Access to the European Patent System.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) describes itself as "the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace". In a recent press release they wrote:
"[...]The Business Software Alliance (BSA) welcomes today’s adoption by European Industry Ministers of a Common Position on the draft Directive on Computer Implemented Inventions. More than 30,000 European patents have already been granted for computer-implemented inventions in Europe over the past decade, including for such everyday items as vehicle anti-lock braking systems and global positioning systems, contributing significantly to European innovation and competitiveness. Despite this, so-called 'CII patents' have lately faced unreasonable criticism from some quarters, and a formal clarification of European Union law in this area is long overdue.
While welcoming the Common Position, BSA wishes to open a public debate on the fundamental issues of the overall quality of patent protection in Europe and of access by small- and medium-sized enterprises to the general European patent system.
[...]
BSA proposes a set of initiatives that would improve the European patent system with a particular focus on the needs of SMEs. BSA proposals submitted to the European Institutions include:
1) Creation of an “SME Committee” that would monitor SME participation in the patent process.
2) Establishment of an SME discount on EPO and national patent office fees.
3) Improvement of the patent opposition process by amending existing procedures to make them faster.
4) The systematic collection of prior art data regarding patent litigation, in particular where CII patents are involved.
5) Tracking of patent data with particular regard to the patents owned by SMEs through the collection of data by the European Patent Office and national patent offices.
6) Establishment of a technology patent oversight team within (or outside) the EPO to monitor 'quality control' on an ongoing basis.
7) Reduction or elimination of the practice of fee diversion, where member states can divert portions of fees collected for non-patent purposes. [...]"
I can only welcome this statement of BSA because of it not only acknowledges the necessity of maintaining the patentability of computer-implemented inventions on a more clarified legal basis but also shows that the patent system as it stands now actually needs improvement in order to serve also SMEs. Yes, the patent system needs improvement, not destruction as proposed by the various anti-patent campaigners. The points made by the BSA statement should be thoroughly examined, and perhaps other supplementary proposals might come up.
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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:
Business Software Alliance (BSA) describes itself as "the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace". In a 
