The EuroLinux Alliance is a coalition of commercial companies and non-profit associations seeking to promote and protect “a vigorous European Software Culture based on Open Standards, Open Competition and Open Source System Software.”
Pointing to the issues that have arisen in the US, which has a comparatively liberal approach to patent eligibility criteria, the group is expressing its concerns that patents will stifle innovation, particularly among small developers.
Frank Hoen, President of NetPresenter.com, a Dutch company which invented internet push technology, said in support of the petition:
“Financial analysts should be aware that the software patent system, as it has evolved in the US, generates many costly legal disputes but does not succeed in protecting real software inventors or investors. It is a system which allows companies with a strong legal team, and often no merit, to rip-off or block innovative companies. As it has been highlighted by MIT and Harvard economists, a system based on copyright... protects investment in software technologies much better than the current US patent system.”
A draft EU directive is expected towards the end of this year. The details are not yet known and, while it will cover software patents, no decision has yet been taken on whether business methods will also be patentable, as they are in the US. In the UK, it is only possible to patent software that has a so-called “technical effect.”
For more information, see our guide, Branding and Intellectual Property.