Report threatens small IT companies
Small and medium sized IT companies will be run into the ground if a proposal to allow software patents goes ahead, campaigners have warned.
Part of a report by UK Socialist MEP Arlene McCarthy, the new rules seek to legalise the patenting of everyday inventions such as progress bars – which tell the user how far a download has progressed or the ZIP file - which compress documents.
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One organiser of a demonstration, against the new rules, held outside the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday, told the EUobserver that small and medium sized IT companies would be put in a difficult financial situation by the legislation.
Lacking both the financial and human resources necessary to perform patent researches and patent registration, the companies may unknowingly use patents.
Others say the new rules would stifle innovation and discourage investments in software development.
The FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) said that the proposal would legalise thousands of logic patents that have been granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) making it impossible for national courts to continue to revoke these patents.
It said that the EPO has granted more than 30,000 patents in contradiction to the current law and against the European Patent Convention, whereby most of these patents are owned by the US and Japanese companies.
This report, which was supposed to be debated in Strasbourg next week, is being met with increasing pressure from political groups within the European Parliament, who want this report to be deferred to another session.
Support for this proposal lies within parts of the Socialist group and the Christian Democrats, but against are the Liberals, the radicals, the Union for Europe of the Nations and the Greens.
A decision will be taken today during the meeting of the political group presidents.