CompTIA's Manifesto: "SME Patent Reform"
Brussels, 12 July 2006 - While the European Commission cheated SMEs with the Public Consultation on the future of European patent policy, CompTIA is currently trying to attract SMEs, making them believe that CII should be patented and thus implemented into the Community Patent.
On the 3th July 2006, the European Commission published on-line the preliminary findings of the public consultation on the future of European patent policy. Not only this short synthesis included an unintended SME panel of 664 enterprises having interests with a future European patent system and but it excluded also more than one thousand of FFII standard replies from the analysis. This was a primary step to bring more representativity and legitimacy to this European Commission initiative because SMEs constitute the backbone of the European economy.
The second step came with CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association), an ICT lobbying group notorious for his support to the Campaign for Creativity, which edited a manifesto called SME Patent Reform the 12 July 2006, that is the very day of the Public Hearing. The day before, the SME-Union in cooperation with the same lobbying group organized a working lunch on EU patents and SMEs: The Road ahead? which took place on July 11th from in the European Parliament. The strategy is clear. These events and publications aim at creating the feeling that SMEs support the European Commission initiatives.
Anyway, CompTIAs manifesto is clearly an attempt to seduce SMEs by presenting them the so-called benefices of CII patents. The document claims for a clear "Inclusion (or at least not explicit exclusion) of CIIs in the Community Patent Regulation for patents give us protection for the functionality of an invention implemented in software. This protection is not available with copyright, important trough copyright in controlling unauthorized copying of our computer code by others.
- The first part of the manifesto awkwardly points that the EPO respects truly the EPC for the CIIs would concern only software-related inventions which have a technical effect. Of course, the word technical is not defined there. However this statement serves as the weak basis of the further argumentation of CompTIA.
Thus, the EPO does not grant patents for computer programs or computer-implemented business methods that make no technical contribution, which differs greatly from common practice in the United States
- Secondly, the CompTIA manifesto presents the pseudo advantages of CII and the need of an efficient legal framework including software-related inventions. This document provides astonishing misinformation on the "benefits of patenting CII"
CompTIA, through its Software Choice initiative, has identified the many benefits of CII patents for SMEs
CII patents promote innovation
CII patents may promote follow-on innovation and dissemination of technology
CII patents protect aspects of computer programs that often are eligible for other forms of IP protection
CII patents will reduce confusion surrounding protection of innovations
CII patents will encourage investments in SMEs
- Thirdly, the manifesto presents the rejection of the CII directive in 2005 as a catastrophe for SMEs, leaving no strong legal basis for the protection of CII. There is even a testimony from a CEO asserting the SMEs' dismay...
I need breathing space to let my idea grow into a solid business before competitors come in and take me out of the market Nigel Hamilton, CEO of Turbo 10 Metasearch Engine
- Finally, after having criticized the copyright as a weak and doubtful protection system for software-related inventions, the manifesto proposes the three ameliorations below.
- A return to the Commission Proposal of 2000 regarding translation requirements (i.e. only the 3 EPO languages at grant stage)
- Inclusion (or at least not explicit exclusion) of CIIs in the Community Patent Regulation
- A unified court of first instance or Community Patent Court
Added to the manifesto:
"Strengthening already high standards of patent quality at EPO Allow third-party submission of prior art
- This will help Europe maintain its already high patent quality by ensuring duplicate or similar patents are not issued.
- This will also protect small business as they can submit art on their own patented inventions when a patent application is submitted for a similar invention.
- Searchable patent/prior art database Will streamline the patent process and bring it into the 21st century"
