85 lines
4.4 KiB
HTML
85 lines
4.4 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2013-06-12">
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<head>
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<title>German Parliament tells government to strictly limit patents on software</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>German Parliament tells government to strictly limit patents on software</h1>
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<p newsteaser="yes">On Friday the 7th of June the German Parliament <a
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href="http://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2013/45033928_kw23_angenommen_abgelehnt/index.html">decided
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upon</a> a <a href="http://dip.bundestag.de/btd/17/130/1713086.pdf">joint
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motion to limit software patents</a> (see <a
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href="http://l.fsfe.org/bikt-swpat-en.pdf">English translation by
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BIKT</a>). The Parliament urges the German Government to take steps to
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limit the granting of patents on computer programs. Software should
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exclusively be covered by copyright, and the rights of the copyright
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holders should not be devalued by third parties' software patents. The
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only exception where patents should be allowed are computer programs which
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replace a mechanical or electromagnetic component. In addition the
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Parliament made clear that governmental actions related to patents must
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never interfere with the legality of distributing Free Software.</p>
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<blockquote><p>"This is an important step to fix the software patent
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insanity. The FSFE highly welcomes this decision. It's great to see that
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all of Germany's major parties understand that software patents are a
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huge problem and that they are acting accordingly," says Matthias
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Kirschner, FSFE's coordinator for Germany.</p></blockquote>
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<p>Tens of thousands of software patents in Germany and Europe present
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enormous cost and liability risks, especially for SMEs. Several German SME
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associations welcomed the Parliament's decision. However they warn against
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giving all the responsibility to Brussels, as the EU has been consistently
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incapable of providing software developers with legal certainty. "Germany
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now has to implement this decision in law, to send a strong signal towards
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Brussels," says Johannes Sommer of BIKT, one of the associations.</p>
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<p>At an expert meeting in the Parliament on 13th May, in which FSFE also
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participated, industry associations BIKT and BITMi proposed changes to
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German copyright and patent law. These proposals would also affect
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software patents which have already been granted. The first proposal is to
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add a "protective shield" clause to German copyright law , introducing a
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<a href="http://l.fsfe.org/bikt-schutz">blanket ban</a> on the enforcement
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of patent claims with regard to software. The second proposal to be
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implemented in German patent law makes sure that the effect of patent
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claims shall not extend to works protected independently by copyright. Both
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proposals would prevent that patents on software can be enforced against
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software developers. The FSFE supports both proposals.</p>
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<blockquote><p>"Since the EU has decided to give away its power to make
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rules on the unitary patent, this step towards limiting patents on
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software is all the more important.", says Kirschner.</p></blockquote>
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<p>Background: The joint motion was introduced in German Parliament in
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April. After a first hearing, the legal committee held an external expert
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meeting on May 13th for which FSFE published a <a
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href="http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/ausschuesse17/a06/anhoerungen/archiv/47_Patentierung_von_Computerprogrammen/04_Stellungnahmen/Stellungnahme_Kirschner.pdf">written
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statement</a> and <a
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href="http://wiki.fsfe.org/mk/BundestagAnhoerung2013SoftwarepatenteNotizen">Matthias
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Kirschner's notes of his oral presentation</a>. During the hearing, a
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substantial majority of the external experts supported the join motion.
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After recommendations from the Parliament's Legal Committee, backed up by
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the Committee for Economy and Technology, the Committee of Education,
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Research, and Engineering Results Assessment, as well as from the Committee
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for Culture and Media, the German Parliament in plenary session has
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approved unanimously the joint motion on the 7th June.</p>
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</body>
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<timestamp></timestamp>
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<tags>
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<tag>front-page</tag>
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<tag content="Software Patents">swpatents</tag>
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<tag>de</tag>
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<tag>Policy</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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