EU looking for "Community Instrument" instead of EPLA

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11 May 2010 15:01 — "No Power for the Parliament" warns EPO examiners association: The Staff Union of the EPO sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, warning of risks integrated into the accession of the European Union to the European Patent Convention (EPC). They warn that the European Parliament can be circumvented as a legislator in patent law. (Comments: 39)

10 Feb 2010 16:11 — Alvaro asks 9 questions to the Commission about ACTA, including 3 strikes and transparency: Alexander Alvaro (ALDE) has asked 9 questions about ACTA, including 3 strikes and transparency, or the access by the INTA committee to the drafts documents. He is also asking about changes to substantive patent law (read software patents here). (Comments: 29)

09 Feb 2010 12:05 — Members of European Parliaments ask when they will receive the ACTA documents: Some Member of the European Parliament have asked when they will receive the ACTA documents, mentioning the Lisbon Treaty article 218 which says that the Parliament have to be "fully informed" of the negotiations. The new trade commissioner Karel DeGucht said previously that the Lisbon Treaty do not apply to ACTA, because the confidentiality of the talks were negotiated before. (Comments: 32)

07 Oct 2009 12:14 — FFII and IP Justice file Bilski Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court: The Foundation for a Free Informational Infrastructure (FFII) and IP Justice filed an Amicus Curiae Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case Bilski v. Kappos is expected to become a landmark ruling on the future of the U.S. patent system. The joint Brief explains the interlink of software and business methods, and points out alternatives to the so called Machine-or-Transformation test used for categorizing patents. (Comments: 9)

02 Sep 2009 22:30 — IBM says software patents drive OSS development: In its Amicus Brief to the US Supreme Court on the Bilski case, IBM is arguing that "patent protection has promoted the free sharing of source code [...] which has fueled the explosive growth of open source software development." (Comments: 87)

08 Jul 2009 11:54 — What's wrong with the United Patent Litigation System (UPLS)?: A journalist of WorldIPReview recently asked FFII what were its views of the proposed United Patent Litigation System (UPLS), which is now being questioned by the Council in a submission to the ECJ. FFII had already published a press release mentioning the new push for software patents in Europe via a centralised and trusted court. (Comments: 0)

03 Jul 2009 17:34 — The Bilski test was invented by IBM: By reading the Amicus Brief of IBM to the CAFC, it is pretty clear that the machine tranformation test which allows software patents and ban business method patents was invented by IBM lawyers. (Comments: 220)

22 Jun 2009 12:34 — USPTO refuses to disclose Bilski's pending patent application: The US Supreme Court will soon hear Bilski on why software and business method patents are so good for the US economy. I was trying to find out where the Bilski's pending patent application was published, and I ended up writing to the new USPTO President and ex-IBM David Kappos. I finally got an answer from a USPTO official that the Bilski's pending patent application cannot be seen by the public. (Comments: 38)

09 Jun 2009 10:49 — Patent expert Alison Crofts says EPLA is pushed by pro-software patents lobby: In its edition of IP Value 2007, the Intellectual Asset Magazine (IAM) was publishing an article about the Reform of European Patent System, where an expert mentions that the push for the EPLA is coming from the pro-software patents lobby. (Comments: 5)

04 Jun 2009 20:24 — European Patent Office refuses spanish amicus brief against software patents: Alberto Barrionuevo, CEO of the small spanish software company OpenTIA and ex-president of the FFII, had submitted an amicus brief to the Enlarged Board of Appeal in spanish. The European Patent Office has notified him that they are refusing his letter because it was not written in one of the 3 official languages of the EPO. (Comments: 1)

12 May 2009 13:30 — European Commission pushes for software patents via a trusted court: The European Commission is pushing for software patents via a centralised trusted patent court that would be created with the United Patent Litigation System (UPLS), an international treaty that would remove national courts. This court system would be shielded against any review by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Thus patent judges would have the last word on software patents. (Comments: 27)

22 Apr 2009 11:25 — Conference on "Make software patents work for SMEs": The European Commission is organising a conference dedicated to "Make IPR work for SMEs" next Monday in Brussels. You can here submit your questions for next Monday on how to "Make software patents work for SMEs". (Comments: 49)

In a statement published after the latest EU Council meeting, the Commission's patent policy unit now says:

"The adoption of a cost-effective Community Patent is the most important step. In the meantime […] the Member States and the Commission should together make the existing patent system more efficient by improving the means for litigation through a Community instrument."

This comes after the non-Community nature of the EPLA has fuelled a call from the European Parliament for a "significant improvements to the EPLA text, which address concerns about democratic control, judicial independence and litigation costs". The dissatisfaction seems to have spread to some of the ministries in control of patent policy at the national level. In particular the French industry ministry is rumored to have asked for a solution at the EU level instead of a replication of the EPO structure.

This can be seen as a significant slowdown of the EPLA bandwagon.

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