European Commission

Go to homepage Back to upper level Search on this site Print version Increase text Decrease text
Industrial property
News
Industrial Property Rights
Utility Model
Biotechnological Inventions
Domain Name
Patents
Access to patented medicines for countries in need
Patentability of computer-implemented inventions
Designs (including Community Design)
Trade Marks (including Community Trade Mark)
Enforcement of intellectual property rights
Infringements
Contact & help

Replies to the Consultation Paper on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions

On 19 October 2000, the European Commission launched consultations via the Internet on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. Interested parties, the public at large and Member States were invited to comment by 15 December 2000 on the basis of a consultation paper. The aim of the consultation is to help the Commission to identify the best approach to the issue so as to strike the right balance between promoting innovation and ensuring adequate competition in the market place. At the top of that webpage, those commenting on the Commission's consultation paper were asked to indicate whether or not they agreed to their comments being published by the Commission, either "as is", or without their name, address etc. Answers from authors who have agreed to publication are being reproduced below.

In the context of the Commission's consultation, a great number of comments were sent to consultation@eurolinux.org and published. Copies of such comments have been received by DG Internal Market. This webpage was set up by the EuroLinux Alliance of software publishers and non-profit organisations. The EuroLinux Alliance indicates on that webpage that it has created a public forum and asks European consumers, European IT professionals and European companies to send public statements, reports and position papers on software patents to consultation@eurolinux.org. The EuroLinux Alliance further states that e-mails sent to that address are automatically being published on their above webpage and forwarded to DG Internal Market. In line with the notice at the top of the Commission's webpage mentioned in the first paragraph, comments sent to consultation@eurolinux.org and forwarded to the Commission are published below only where their authors have expressly agreed to such publication by the Commission.

Furthermore, the United Kingdom Patent Office carried out a consultation on the question as to whether or not patents should be granted for computer software or ways of doing business. For further information, please visit the website of the UK Patent Office.

Replies:

Last update: 01-09-2008