2004-11-25 Confindustria patent lawyers lobby Italian MEPs in favor of Council Agreement

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The Intellectual Property Committee (Gruppo Proprietá Intellettuale) of Confindustria, the confederation of Italian employer associations, has sent a letter with an attached position statement to the Italian members of the European Parliament.

In this letter it stresses the importance of "intellectual property" and says that "patent protection" must extend to software. In particular the statement says that program claims as reintroduced by Art 5(2) of the Council Software Patent Agreement are vital and that the Parliament must approve this Council agreement without any amendments. As might be expected, the paper supports its claims with the authority of "the industry" rather than with reasoning.

This is not the first incident. On May 17 2004, Confindustria Lawyers already issued a UNICE-style patent priest statement: Conf040417En